§ 277j — Management Of International Transboundary Water Pollution

In fiscal year 2023 and in each fiscal year thereafter— (a) The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (the “Administrator”) may transfer amounts made available under the heading “Environmental Protection Agency—State and Tribal Assistance Grants” in the USMCA Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2019 (title IX of Public Law 116–113) to the International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico (the “Commission”), by entering into an interagency agreement or by awarding a grant, to support the construction of treatment works (as that term is defined in section 1292(2) of title 33), that will be owned or operated by the Commission: Provided, That the Commission shall, in consultation with the Administrator and subject to the requirements of sections 1372 and 1388 of title 33, use amounts transferred pursuant to this section for general, administrative, or other costs (including construction management) related to the planning, study, design, and construction, of treatment works that, as determined by the Commissioner of the Commission, will— (1) protect residents in the United States-Mexico border region from water pollution resulting from— (A) transboundary flows of wastewater, stormwater, or other international transboundary water flows originating in Mexico; and (B) any inadequacies or breakdowns of treatment works in Mexico; and (2) provide treatment of the flows and water pollution described in subparagraph (A) in compliance with local, State, and Federal law: Provided, That the Commission may also use amounts transferred pursuant to this section to operate and maintain any new treatment work constructed, which shall be in addition to any amounts otherwise available to the Commission for such purposes. (b) The Commission is authorized to enter into an agreement with the appropriate official or officials of the United States and Mexican States for the operation and maintenance by the Commission of any new treatment works, pursuant to subsection (a): Provided, That such agreement shall contain a provision relating to the division between the two Governments of the costs of such operation and maintenance, or of the works involved there as may be recommended by said Commission and approved by the Government of Mexico. (c) Nothing in this section modifies, amends, repeals, or otherwise limits the authority of the Commission under— (1) the treaty relating to the utilization of the waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers, and of the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) from Fort Quitman, Texas, to the Gulf of Mexico, and supplementary protocol, signed at Washington February 3, 1944 (59 Stat. 1219), between the United States and Mexico; or (2) any other applicable treaty. (d) Funds transferred pursuant to subsection (a) shall be subject to the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations. (e) Amounts repurposed pursuant to this section that were previously designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 or a concurrent resolution on the budget are designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 4001(a)(1) of S. Con. Res. 14 (117th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2022, and section 1(e) of H. Res. 1151 (117th Congress), as engrossed in the House of Representatives on June 8, 2022.