S. 2249 would reauthorize the Rio Puerco Management Committee (RPMC) for 10 years. The RPMC is a collaborative watershed organization, organized and funded by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that works with state and local governments and other stakeholders to protect the sustainability of the Rio Puerco watershed in New Mexico. The committee’s current authority expires at the end of fiscal year 2019.
The majority of funding for projects in the Rio Puerco watershed, including those for erosion and sediment control, has been provided by the Environmental Protection Agency and the New Mexico Environment Department. The most recent major projects concluded in 2010; S. 2249 would not affect funding for those projects. BLM covers the administrative costs of the RPMC, whose members meet several times each year. Over the past few years, those costs have totaled about $6,000 annually.
CBO estimates that the RPMC’s administrative costs will continue to total a few thousand dollars per year over the 2019-2023 period; BLM does not foresee any significant new projects. Any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 2249 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
S. 2249 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
