United States S 339: Nashua River Wild and Scenic River Act

Bill Text

II
116TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 339
To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the
Nashua, Squannacook, and Nissitissit Rivers as components of the Wild
and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY 5, 2019
Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Ms. WARREN, Ms. HASSAN, and Mrs. SHAHEEN)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate
segments of the Nashua, Squannacook, and Nissitissit
Rivers as components of the Wild and Scenic Rivers
System, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nashua River Wild 4
and Scenic River Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. NASHUA WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS, MASSACHU-1
SETTS AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 2
(a) DESIGNATION OF WILD AND SCENIC RIVER SEG-3
MENTS.—Section 3(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act 4
(16 U.S.C. 1274(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 5
following: 6
‘‘(214) NASHUA, SQUANNACOOK, AND 7
NISSITISSIT WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS, MASSACHU-8
SETTS AND NEW HAMPSHIRE.— 9
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The following seg-10
ments in the States of Massachusetts and New 11
Hampshire, to be administered by the Secretary 12
of the Interior as a scenic river: 13
‘‘(i) The approximately 27-mile seg-14
ment of the mainstem of the Nashua River 15
from the confluence of the North and 16
South Nashua Rivers in Lancaster, Massa-17
chusetts, and extending north to the bor-18
der between the States of Massachusetts 19
and New Hampshire, except as provided in 20
subparagraph (B). 21
‘‘(ii) The approximately 16.3-mile seg-22
ment of the Squannacook River from its 23
headwaters in Ash Swamp, Townsend, 24
Massachusetts, extending downstream to 25
the confluence of the river with the Nash-26
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ua River in Shirley and Ayer, Massachu-1
setts, except as provided in subparagraph 2
(B). 3
‘‘(iii) The approximately 9.5-mile seg-4
ment of the Nissitissit River from its head-5
waters in Brookline, New Hampshire, to 6
the confluence of the river with the Nash-7
ua River in Pepperell, Massachusetts. 8
‘‘(B) EXCLUDED AREAS.—The designation 9
of the river segments by subparagraph (A) shall 10
not include— 11
‘‘(i) with respect to the Ice House hy-12
droelectric project (Federal Energy Regu-13
latory Commission Project P–12769), the 14
area from 700 feet upstream from the 15
crest of the dam to 500 feet downstream 16
from the crest of the dam; 17
‘‘(ii) with respect to the Pepperell hy-18
droelectric project (Federal Energy Regu-19
latory Commission Project P–12721), the 20
area from 9,240 feet upstream from the 21
crest of the dam to 1,000 feet downstream 22
from the crest of the dam; and 23
‘‘(iii) with respect to the Hollings-24
worth and Vose dam (a project not li-25
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censed by the Federal Energy Regulatory 1
Commission), the area from 1,200 feet up-2
stream from the crest of the dam to 2,665 3
feet downstream from the crest of the 4
dam.’’. 5
(b) MANAGEMENT.— 6
(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 7
(A) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The term 8
‘‘management plan’’ means the Nashua, 9
Squannacook, and Nissitissit Rivers Steward-10
ship Plan dated February 15, 2018 and devel-11
oped pursuant to a study required under section 12
5(b)(21) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 13
U.S.C. 1276(b)(21)). 14
(B) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 15
means the Secretary of the Interior. 16
(C) STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL.—The term 17
‘‘Stewardship Council’’ means the Nashua, 18
Squannacook, and Nissitissit Rivers Steward-19
ship Council. 20
(2) MANAGEMENT PLAN.— 21
(A) IN GENERAL.—The river segments 22
designated by paragraph (214) of section 3(a) 23
of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 24
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1274(a)) (as added by subsection (a)) shall be 1
managed in accordance with— 2
(i) the management plan; and 3
(ii) any amendments to the manage-4
ment plan that— 5
(I) the Secretary determine are 6
consistent with this subsection; and 7
(II) are approved by the Stew-8
ardship Council. 9
(B) COMPREHENSIVE MANAGEMENT 10
PLAN.—The management plan shall be consid-11
ered to satisfy the requirements for a com-12
prehensive management plan under section 3(d) 13
of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 14
1274(d)). 15
(3