Drought legislation is vital right now

With each dry day that passes, New Mexico’s drought gets longer and more punishing. Every week brings a new batch of stories about impacts and implications, including dry fields and pastures, depleted reservoirs and widening disputes about water deliveries to Texas.

This summer may see the Middle Rio Grande drier than it has been in a decade, raising the chances — and the stakes — for renewed conflict under the Endangered Species Act.

It’s often said that misery loves company, and at least New Mexicans are not suffering alone. The latest Drought Monitor shows the majority of the West in drought, including nearly all of the Southwest. Much of the Great Plains region is also experiencing drought.

Major droughts, including more intense ones than this, have always been a fact of life in the West. We can’t expect government to stop drought, but we do expect it to assist in planning for it and to provide a measure of relief when it strikes.

The last Congress, however, actually made the current drought a little worse for the West: It failed to reauthorize the Drought Relief Act, allowing key parts of the law to expire in 2012.

Never heard of the Drought Relief Act? You’re not alone. This obscure statute, originally enacted in 1992, is administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It provides for “drought contingency plans” identifying various actions to help areas of the West become more drought-resistant.

More importantly, it allows Reclamation — either after a plan is adopted, or upon request of a state or tribal government — to take certain actions to mitigate drought-related water shortages. These actions may include drilling new wells or providing temporary water supplies.

Unfortunately, Reclamation has never made the most of its Drought Relief Act powers, and Congress has not given this program much attention or funding. The “action” authorities of the law have always been temporary, and Congress allowed them to lapse for a year before reviving them in 2006. A two-year extension enacted in 2010 expired last year, so unless Congress resurrects the law again, Reclamation will have lost significant muscle for fighting the impacts of drought in the West.

Congressman Ed Markey and several co-sponsors, including New Mexico’s Rep. Ben Ray Luján, recently introduced legislation to reauthorize the Drought Relief Act through 2018. Hardly a budget-buster, H.R. 518 would authorize only $20 million in spending, spread over five to six years. This two-page bill faces an uncertain future in the GOP-controlled House, however, partly because Markey and all 13 current co-sponsors are Democrats.

The drought-stricken West can only hope that partisan politics does not get in the way of congressional action that could help provide a measure of relief. After all, drought hits red states and blue ones, urban and rural areas, farmers and recreationists alike. Drought is a nonpartisan disaster.

Water in the West often poses federal-state conflicts, but not here. The drought relief program provides needed assistance without threatening the states’ role in allocating and managing water resources. The influential Western States Water Council, recognizing the need for a more robust approach to drought preparation and response, “strongly supports” reauthorizing the Drought Relief Act.

Passing H.R. 518 would be a positive step, but only a modest first step. Reclamation will need to do far more to implement the law than it has in the last 20 years. And Congress (and/or states) will need to invest more than a few million dollars to make serious headway on drought-proofing the West.

As climate change warms the West, droughts will have increasingly serious impacts on stream flows and water users. Tougher droughts call for stronger preparation and response — a more proactive and comprehensive drought policy than the West has today.

The lapse of the Drought Relief Act takes federal law in the wrong direction, at the worst possible time.

Reed D. Benson has written extensively on western water issues. His new article, “Federal Water Law and the ‘Double Whammy,’” appears in the latest issue of Ecology Law Quarterly.