I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 970

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to the Perkins

County Rural Water System, Inc., for the construction of water supply

facilities in Perkins County, South Dakota.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 3, 1999

Mr. THUNE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Resources

A BILL

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to the Perkins County Rural Water System, Inc.,

for the construction of water supply facilities in Perkins

County, South Dakota.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Perkins County Rural

5 Water System Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) in 1977, the North Dakota State Legisla2 ture authorized and directed the State Water Com3 mission to conduct the Southwest Area Water Sup4 ply Study, which included water service to a portion

5 of Perkins County, South Dakota;

6 (2) amendments made by the Garrison Diver7 sion Unit Reformulation Act of 1986 (Public Law

8 101–294) authorized the Southwest Pipeline project

9 as an eligible project for Federal cost share partici10 pation; and

11 (3) the Perkins County Rural Water System

12 has continued to be recognized by the State of North

13 Dakota, the Southwest Water Authority, the North

14 Dakota Water Commission, the Department of the

15 Interior, and Congress as a component of the South16 west Pipeline Project.

17 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

18 In this Act:

19 (1) CORPORATION.—The term ‘‘Corporation’’

20 means the Perkins County Rural Water System,

21 Inc., a nonprofit corporation established and oper22 ated under the laws of the State of South Dakota

23 substantially in accordance with the feasibility study.

24 (2) FEASIBILITY STUDY.—The term ‘‘feasibility

25 study’’ means the study entitled ‘‘Feasibility Study
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1 for Rural Water System for Perkins County Rural

2 Water System, Inc.’’, as amended in March 1995.

3 (3) PROJECT CONSTRUCTION BUDGET.—The

4 term ‘‘project construction budget’’ means the de5 scription of the total amount of funds that are need6 ed for the construction of the water supply system,

7 as described in the feasibility study.

8 (4) PUMPING AND INCIDENTAL OPERATIONAL

9 REQUIREMENTS.—The term ‘‘pumping and inciden10 tal operational requirements’’ means all power re11 quirements that are incidental to the operation of

12 the water supply system by the Corporation.

13 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

14 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the

15 Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation.

16 (6) WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘water

17 supply system’’ means intake facilities, pumping sta18 tions, water treatment facilities, cooling facilities,

19 reservoirs, and pipelines operated by the Perkins

20 County Rural Water System, Inc., to the point of

21 delivery of water to each entity that distributes

22 water at retail to individual users.
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1 SEC. 4. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR WATER SUPPLY SYS2 TEM.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make grants

4 to the Corporation for the Federal share of the costs of—

5 (1) the planning and construction of the water

6 supply system; and

7 (2) repairs to existing public water distribution

8 systems to ensure conservation of the resources and

9 to make the systems functional under the new water

10 supply system.

11 (b) LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF CONSTRUC12 TION FUNDS.—The Secretary shall not obligate funds for

13 the construction of the water supply system until—

14 (1) the requirements of the National Environ15 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.)

16 are met with respect to the water supply system;

17 and

18 (2) a final engineering report and a plan for a

19 water conservation program have been prepared and

20 submitted to Congress for a period of not less than

21 90 days before the commencement of construction of

22 the system.

23 SEC. 5. MITIGATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE LOSSES.

24 Mitigation of fish and wildlife losses incurred as a

25 result of the construction and operation of the water sup26 ply system shall be on an acre-for-acre basis, based on eco-
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1 logical equivalency, concurrent with project construction,

2 as provided in the feasibility study.

3 SEC. 6. USE OF PICK-SLOAN POWER.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—From power designated for future

5 irrigation and drainage pumping for the Pick-Sloan Mis6 souri River Basin Program, the Western Area Power Ad7 ministration shall make available the capacity and energy

8 required to meet the pumping and incidental operational

9 requirements of the water supply system during the period

10 beginning May 1 and ending October 31 of each year.

11 (b) CONDITIONS.—The capacity and energy described

12 in subsection (a) shall be made available on the following

13 conditions:

14 (1) The Corporation shall be operated on a not15 for-profit basis.

16 (2) The Corporation may contract to purchase

17 its entire electric service requirements for the water

18 supply system, including the capacity and energy

19 made available under subsection (a), from a quali20 fied preference power supplier that itself purchases

21 power from the Western Area Power Administration.

22 (3) The rate schedule applicable to the capacity

23 and energy made available under subsection (a) shall

24 be the firm power rate schedule of the Pick-Sloan

25 Eastern Division of the Western Area Power Admin-
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1 istration in effect when the power is delivered by the

2 Administration.

3 (4) It shall be agreed by contract among—

4 (A) the Western Area Power Administra5 tion;

6 (B) the power supplier with which the Cor7 poration contracts under paragraph (2);

8 (C) the power supplier of the entity de9 scribed in subparagraph (B); and

10 (D) the Corporation;

11 that in the case of the capacity and energy made

12 available under subsection (a), the benefit of the

13 rate schedule described in paragraph (3) shall be

14 passed through to the Corporation, except that the

15 power supplier of the Corporation shall not be pre16 cluded from including, in the charges of the supplier

17 to the water system for the electric service, the other

18 usual and customary charges of the supplier.

19 SEC. 7. FEDERAL SHARE.

20 The Federal share under section 4 shall be 75 percent

21 of—

22 (1) the amount allocated in the total project

23 construction budget for the planning and construc24 tion of the water supply system under section 4; and
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1 (2) such sums as are necessary to defray in2 creases in development costs reflected in appropriate

3 engineering cost indices after March 1, 1995.

4 SEC. 8. NON-FEDERAL SHARE.

5 The non-Federal share under section 4 shall be 25

6 percent of—

7 (1) the amount allocated in the total project

8 construction budget for the planning and construc9 tion of the water supply system under section 4; and

10 (2) such sums as are necessary to defray in11 creases in development costs reflected in appropriate

12 engineering cost indices after March 1, 1995.

13 SEC. 9. CONSTRUCTION OVERSIGHT.

14 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—At the request of the Corpora15 tion, the Secretary may provide to the Corporation assist16 ance in overseeing matters relating to construction of the

17 water supply system.

18 (b) PROJECT OVERSIGHT ADMINISTRATION.—The

19 amount of funds used by the Secretary for planning and

20 construction of the water supply system may not exceed

21 an amount equal to 3 percent of the amount provided in

22 the total project construction budget for the portion of the

23 project to be constructed in Perkins County, South Da24 kota.
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1 SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to the

3 Secretary—

4 (1) $15,000,000 for the planning and construc5 tion of the water supply system under section 4; and

6 (2) such sums as are necessary to defray in7 creases in development costs reflected in appropriate

8 engineering cost indices after March 1, 1995.

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