79–006 

1SEAPA Hydro, ‘‘Swan Lake Hydro Facility,’’ Southeast Alaska Power Agency, 2013. http:// 

www.seapahydro.org/Swan-Lake-Hydro-Facility.php. 2SEAPA Hydro, ‘‘About Us,’’ Southeast Alaska Power Agency, 2013. http:// 

www.seapahydro.org/about-us.php. 

115TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session 115–532 

SWAN LAKE HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT BOUNDARY 

CORRECTION ACT 

JANUARY 29, 2018.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State 

of the Union and ordered to be printed 

Mr. BISHOP of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, 

submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany H.R. 219] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 

bill (H.R. 219) to correct the Swan Lake hydroelectric project survey boundary and to provide for the conveyance of the remaining 

tract of land within the corrected survey boundary to the State of 

Alaska, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. 

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of H.R. 219 is to correct the Swan Lake hydroelectric survey boundary and to provide for the conveyance of the 

remaining tract of land within the corrected survey boundary to 

the State of Alaska. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

The Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project is a remote facility located 

approximately 22 air miles northeast of Ketchikan, Alaska.1 The 

facility is operated by the Southeast Alaska Power Agency 

(SEAPA), a regional Joint Action Agency of the State of Alaska.2

2 

3Senate Report 115–98, https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/115th-congress/ 

senate-report/98/1. 4SEAPA Hydro, ‘‘Swan Lake Hydro Facility.’’ http://www.seapahydro.org/Swan-Lake-HydroFacility.php. 5SEAPA Hydro, ‘‘Swan Lake Hydro Facility.’’ http://www.seapahydro.org/Swan-Lake-HydroFacility.php. 6 Information provided to the Committee by Representative Don Young of Alaska’s Office. 

7 Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Research and Analysis Section, 

‘‘2016 Population Estimates by Borough, Census Area, and Economic Region’’ http:// 

live.laborstats.alaska.gov/pop/. 8SEAPA Hydro, ‘‘Swan Lake Reservoir Expansion’’ Southeast Alaska Power Agency, 2013. 

http://www.seapahydro.org/_exp/pdfs/White_Paper/swl_white_paper.pdf. 9SEAPA Hydro, ‘‘Costs and Benefits Analysis for Increasing Storage at Swan Lake,’’ Southeast Alaska Power Authority, 2012. http://www.seapahydro.org/_exp/pdfs/White_Paper/costbenefit.pdf. 10SEAPA Hydro, ‘‘Costs and Benefits Analysis for Increasing Storage at Swan Lake,’’ Southeast Alaska Power Authority, 2012. http://www.seapahydro.org/_exp/pdfs/White_Paper/costbenefit.pdf. 11 Information provided to the Committee by Representative Don Young of Alaska’s Office. 

The Project was initiated by the State of Alaska in 1980 and placed 

into service in 1984.3

The Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project is comprised of an elliptical 

concrete thin arch dam, 174 feet high and 430 feet long at its 

crest.4 The corresponding reservoir has a usable storage capacity of 

86,000 acre feet and a surface area of approximately 1,500 acres.5

The project’s powerhouse contains two turbine generating units 

with an installed capacity of 25 megawatts. The project and associated facilities supply wholesale power to the municipal utilities 

serving the cities of Petersburg, Wrangell, and Ketchikan 6 with a 

combined population of 19,395 residents.7

At the time the Project entered service, a future 15-foot increase 

in reservoir elevation was anticipated as a second phase to the 

Project, which would raise the elevation of the reservoir from 330 

feet to 345 feet (plus a 5-foot buffer).8 As a result, in 1994 the State 

of Alaska sought a land selection of 1,500 acres of land inside the 

Tongass National Forest, sufficient land to secure the inundation 

area of the reservoir at the 350-foot elevation level. The land conveyance from the federal government to the State of Alaska was 

granted in 1997. 

In 2012, SEAPA conducted a land survey of the reservoir property as part of its due diligence before raising the height of the 

dam to its final anticipated height of 345 feet. The survey discovered an error in the 350-foot elevation contour on reference maps 

utilized during the State selection process.9 The 2012 survey concluded raising the dam to its final anticipated height would inundate an additional 25.8 acres of federal land along one of Swan 

Lake’s tributaries.10

There is no disagreement among the federal and State agencies 

that the 25.8 acres of Forest Service lands currently within the 

Project boundary remain within the Project boundary solely due to 

an error in establishing lands to be transferred to the State of 

Alaska in 1997.11

H.R. 219 would correct the error by requiring the Secretary of 

the Interior, after consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, to 

survey the exterior boundaries of the tract of federal land within 

the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project boundary and transfer the 

surveyed federal land within the project to the State of Alaska. 

3 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Short Title. Provides that this Act may be cited as the 

Swan Lake Hydroelectricity Project Boundary Correction Act. 

Section 2. Conveyance of Federal Land Within the Swan Lake 

Hydroelectric Project Boundary. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to consult with the Secretary of Agriculture and survey the exterior boundaries of the federal land tract within the boundaries of 

the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project within 18 months of the enactment of the legislation. Following completion of the survey, the 

Secretary of the Interior is to issue a patent for the land to the 

State of Alaska in accordance with the survey and applicable federal laws. 

COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 219 was introduced on January 3, 2017, by Congressman 

Don Young (R–AK). The bill was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on 

Federal Lands. On October 11, 2017, the Subcommittee held a 

hearing on the legislation. On January 10, 2018, the Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee was 

discharged by unanimous consent. No amendments were offered 

and the bill was ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives by unanimous consent. 

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII 

of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 

Natural Resources’ oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the body of this report. 

COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII AND CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET

ACT

1. Cost of Legislation and the Congressional Budget Act. With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and (3) of rule XIII of 

the Rules of the House of Representatives and sections 308(a) and 

402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has 

received the following estimate for the bill from the Director of the 

Congressional Budget Office: 

U.S. CONGRESS, 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, 

Washington, DC, January 26, 2018. 

Hon. ROB BISHOP, 

Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources, 

House of Representatives, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 219, the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project Boundary Correction Act. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Jeff LaFave. 

Sincerely, 

KEITH HALL, 

Director. 

Enclosure. 

4 

H.R. 219—Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project Boundary Correction 

Act 

H.R. 219 would direct the Department of the Interior to conduct 

a survey of a 26-acre parcel of land within the boundary of the 

Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project in Alaska. The bill also would require the federal government to convey the parcel, which is currently under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service, to the state 

of Alaska. Using information provided by the affected agencies, 

CBO estimates that implementing the bill would have not significant effect on the federal budget. The parcel is not currently generating any receipts for the Forest Service and it is not expected to 

do so in the future. 

Enacting H.R. 219 would not affect direct spending or revenues; 

therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates 

that enacting the bill would not increase net direct spending or onbudget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028. 

On April 27, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 267, 

a bill to provide for the correction of a survey of certain land in the 

state of Alaska, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on 

Energy and Natural Resources on March 30, 2017. The two bills 

are similar and the CBO’s estimate of their budgetary effects are 

the same. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 

2. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 

clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or objective 

of this bill is to correct the Swan Lake hydroelectric survey boundary and to provide for the conveyance of the remaining tract of 

land within the corrected survey boundary to the State of Alaska. 

EARMARK STATEMENT

This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks, limited 

tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined under clause 9(e), 

9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 

COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104–4

This bill contains no unfunded mandates. 

COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5

Directed Rule Making. This bill does not contain any directed 

rule makings. 

Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not establish or 

reauthorize a program of the federal government known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was not included in 

any report from the Government Accountability Office to Congress 

pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111–139 or identified in the 

most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program Information Act (Public Law 95–220, 

as amended by Public Law 98–169) as relating to other programs. 

5 

PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or tribal law. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

If enacted, this bill would make no changes to existing law. 

Æ