79–006 

115TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session 115–700 

AUTHORIZING EARLY REPAYMENT OF OBLIGATIONS TO THE BUREAU OF 

RECLAMATION WITHIN THE NORTHPORT IRRIGATION DISTRICT IN THE 

STATE OF NEBRASKA 

MAY 22, 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. 4689] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 

bill (H.R. 4689) to authorize early repayment of obligations to the 

Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport Irrigation District in 

the State of Nebraska, 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. 4689 is to authorize early repayment of obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport Irrigation District in the State of Nebraska. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

H.R. 4689 gives individual landowners within the Northport Irrigation District the ability to make accelerated or lump sum capital 

repayments to the federal government. In exchange for paying 

their part of Northport’s debt, the landowners who pay will no 

longer be subject to federal acreage limitations and paperwork requirements. 

Under federal law, any irrigation district that receives contracted 

water from a Bureau of Reclamation facility must repay its allocated portion of the capital costs of the federal water project. These 

repayment costs are typically set forth in long-term capital repayment contracts between the irrigation district and the federal government. 

Northport, located in western Nebraska, is one of four irrigation 

districts that receive water from the federal North Platte Project. 


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1https://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.php?id=363 

2https://naturalresources.house.gov/uploadedfiles/wpletter1.pdf 

3 Natural Resources Republican staff conversation with Northport Irrigation District Board 

Member George Hall on June 3, 2014. 4https://naturalresources.house.gov/uploadedfiles/wpletter1.pdf 

5 Id. 

6http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-110publ229/html/PLAW-110publ229.htm 

7http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-109publ138/html/PLAW-109publ138.htm 

8 H.R. 404 (114th Congress) and H.R. 4562 (113th Congress). 

Water for Northport is conveyed 80 miles from the Guernsey Reservoir through the Tri-State Canal, which is privately owned and 

operated by the Farmers Irrigation District.1 In return for allowing 

the water to be conveyed through the Tri-State Canal, Farmers receive compensation from Northport. Pursuant to a 1958 amendment to the Northport/Bureau of Reclamation contract, if the 

amount of the carriage fee owed to Farmers by Northport is more 

than $8,000 per year, Northport is not obligated to make its annual 

capital repayment to the federal government.2 According to a 

Northport official, the annual carriage fee can be anywhere from 

$80,000 to $100,000.3 Since carriage fees have been over $8,000 per 

year since the early 1950s, Northport’s capital repayment debt to 

the federal government has remained at approximately $923,000 

for over six decades.4 As long as Northport owes the debt, its landowners are subject to the 960 irrigated acre planting limitation and 

paperwork requirements that must be met prior to getting water 

each year, as set forth in the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (Title 

II of Public Law 97–293). 

There are several landowners within Northport who have 

reached retirement age with plans to leave the real estate to family 

members who have already accumulated acres within the District. 

Those combined acres will make additional families subject to the 

960-irrigated-acre planting limitation. Several landowners within 

Northport are willing to repay their portion of the capital repayment obligations owed to the federal government to avoid being 

subject to the federal requirements in Public Law 97–293. The 

same law, however, prohibits these landowners from making such 

accelerated or lump sum payments. According to a Northport Irrigation District Board member, approximately 20 of the 65 landowners may use the authorities granted in H.R. 4689 to repay the 

federal government.5

While the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act 

(Public Law 114–322) provided prepayment authority to irrigation 

districts, this authority did not extend to individual landowners. 

Allowing individual landowners the ability to do this is based on 

two precedents enacted during Democratic and Republican Congresses: Section 508 of Public Law 110–229 6 and ‘‘The Southern 

Oregon Bureau of Reclamation Repayment Act of 2005’’ (Public 

Law 109–138),7 respectively. These public laws and H.R. 4689 

waive section 213 of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982, which 

prohibits any early repayment unless the repayment contract between an irrigation district and the United States allowed for prepayment of the contract at the time the Reclamation Reform Act 

was enacted. 

The House of Representatives passed identical bills in the 114th 

and 113th Congresses, but the Senate took no action.8


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COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 4689 was introduced on December 19, 2017, by Congressman Adrian Smith (R–NE). The bill was referred to the Committee 

on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on Water, Powers and Oceans. On May 8, 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

1. Cost of Legislation and the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. 

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 enclosed cost estimate for the bill from the 

Director of the Congressional Budget Office: 

U.S. CONGRESS, 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, 

Washington, DC, May 22, 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. 4689, a bill to authorize 

early repayment of obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within 

the Northport Irrigation District in the State of Nebraska. 

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

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Aurora Swanson. 

Sincerely, 

MARK P. HADLEY

(For Keith Hall, Director). 

Enclosure. 

H.R. 4689—A bill to authorize early repayment of obligations to the 

Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport Irrigation District 

in the State of Nebraska 

H.R. 4689 would allow individual landowners in the Northport 

Irrigation District in Nebraska to repay their share of the cost of 

building the North Platte Project. Currently, the Northport Irrigation District is not making payments to the Bureau of Reclamation 

(BOR) on its outstanding debt of $924,000 for the construction of 

the irrigation project. The district makes a required annual payment of $3,500 for the cost of conveying water to the district but 

does not currently make payments to pay-off that debt. Using information from the bureau, CBO does not expect the district to begin 

repaying this debt during the next several years. 


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Although current law permits the district to repay its share of 

construction costs early, the district has not done so, probably because some landowners have not agreed to an early repayment 

schedule. Under H.R. 4689, individual landowners would have limits on acreage that can be irrigated with BOR-delivered water 

waived if they make early repayments to retire their debt obligations to the federal government. 

Using information from BOR, CBO expects that about half of the 

affected landowners would repay their debt obligations under the 

bill. CBO estimates that those payments would increase offsetting 

receipts to the federal government, which are treated as reductions 

in direct spending, by less than $500,000 over the 2019–2028 period. 

Because enacting H.R. 4689 would affect direct spending, pay-asyou-go procedures apply. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues. 

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 4689 would not increase net 

direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 

10-year periods beginning in 2029. 

H.R. 4689 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Aurora Swanson. The 

estimate was reviewed 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 authorize early repayment of obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport Irrigation District in the 

State of Nebraska. 

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. 

PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

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


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CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

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

Æ 


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