# Water Supply Permitting Coordination Act: Plain Language Summary

This bill streamlines the process for building new water storage projects like dams and reservoirs on federal land. Right now, when someone wants to build a water storage project, they have to get approval from multiple federal agencies—each with their own timelines, requirements, and paperwork. This bill creates a single point of contact by making the Bureau of Reclamation (a division of the Interior Department) the lead coordinator for all these approvals. Instead of juggling different agencies separately, project developers would work through one agency that coordinates everything behind the scenes.

The bill sets specific timelines to speed things up. Once a project application is complete, federal agencies have one year to finish their environmental review if it's a simpler assessment, or about 13 months if a more detailed environmental impact statement is needed. The Bureau of Reclamation appoints a project manager for each proposal who oversees the entire process and makes sure all the different agencies meet their deadlines. States can also choose to participate in this coordinated process, bringing their own agencies into the same timeline structure.

To help move things along, the bill allows project sponsors to contribute money to help pay for the permit review process—essentially letting them fund additional staff or resources to speed up the evaluation. However, the law includes safeguards to ensure this funding doesn't influence the actual decision about whether to approve or deny a project. All final decisions still go through normal review procedures and must be made public.

The practical effect is that water storage projects would face a more predictable, consolidated approval process instead of the current fragmented system. This could reduce delays and uncertainty for project developers, though environmental reviews and public input would still occur—just in a more coordinated way.

Water Supply Permitting Coordination Act

McClintock, Tom

Water Supply Permitting Coordination Act This bill makes the Bureau of Reclamation the lead agency for the purpose of coordinating all permitting and related activities required to construct certain new surface-water storage projects. Additionally, Reclamation is authorized to accept and expend funds contributed by a nonfederal&nbsp;public entity to expedite the evaluation of a permit for such a project.