The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) owns or has an interest in irrigation projects located on or associated with various Indian reservations throughout the United States. We are required to establish irrigation assessment rates to recover the costs to administer, operate, maintain, and rehabilitate these projects. We are notifying you that we have adjusted the irrigation assessment rates at several of our irrigation projects and facilities to reflect current costs of administration, operation, maintenance, and rehabilitation.

A Notice of Proposed Rate Adjustment was published in the Federal Register on January 18, 2018 (83 FR 2662) to propose adjustments to the irrigation assessment rates at several BIA irrigation projects. The public and interested parties were provided an opportunity to submit written comments during the 60-day period that ended March 19, 2018.

Did BIA defer or change any proposed rate increases?

Yes. The 2019 Operation and Maintenance (O&M) rate for the Wind River Irrigation Project, Units 2, 3, and 4, was proposed in the Federal Register at $25.00 per acre. After further review, BIA decided to change the rate to $24.50. Instead of raising the rate by $1.00, the rate will only increase by $.50. Because the rate increased by $1.50 over the two previous years, BIA decided the full $1.00 increase for the 2019 O&M rate is not appropriate. Hence, this notice of rate adjustments reflects a 2019 O&M rate of $24.50 per acre for Units 2, 3, and 4.