IIB 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1963 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 9, 2013 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

AN ACT 

To amend the Water Conservation and Utilization Act to 

authorize the development of non-Federal hydropower 

and issuance of leases of power privileges at projects 

constructed pursuant to the authority of the Water Conservation and Utilization Act, and for other purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bureau of Reclamation 

3 Conduit Hydropower Development Equity and Jobs Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT. 

5 Section 9 of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act authorizing 

6 construction of water conservation and utilization projects 

7 in the Great Plains and arid semiarid areas of the United 

8 States’’, approved August 11, 1939 (16 U.S.C. 590z–7; 

9 commonly known as the ‘‘Water Conservation and Utiliza10 tion Act’’), is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘In connection with’’ and insert12 ing ‘‘(a) In connection with’’; and 

13 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Secretary is 

15 authorized to enter into leases of power privileges for elec16 tric power generation in connection with any project con17 structed under this Act, and shall have authority in addi18 tion to and alternative to any authority in existing laws 

19 relating to particular projects, including small conduit hy20 dropower development. 

21 ‘‘(c) When entering into leases of power privileges 

22 under subsection (b), the Secretary shall use the processes 

23 applicable to such leases under section 9(c) of the Rec24 lamation Project Act of 1939 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)). 

25 ‘‘(d) Lease of power privilege contracts shall be at 

26 such rates as, in the Secretary’s judgment, will produce 


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1 revenues at least sufficient to cover the appropriate share 

2 of the annual operation and maintenance cost of the 

3 project and such fixed charges, including interest, as the 

4 Secretary deems proper. Lease of power privilege con5 tracts shall be for periods not to exceed 40 years. 

6 ‘‘(e) No findings under section 3 shall be required 

7 for a lease under subsection (b). 

8 ‘‘(f) All right, title, and interest to installed power 

9 facilities constructed by non-Federal entities pursuant to 

10 a lease of power privilege, and direct revenues derived 

11 therefrom, shall remain with the lessee unless otherwise 

12 required under subsection (g). 

13 ‘‘(g) Notwithstanding section 8, lease revenues and 

14 fixed charges, if any, shall be covered into the Reclamation 

15 Fund to be credited to the project from which those reve16 nues or charges were derived. 

17 ‘‘(h) When carrying out this section, the Secretary 

18 shall first offer the lease of power privilege to an irrigation 

19 district or water users association operating the applicable 

20 transferred conduit, or to the irrigation district or water 

21 users association receiving water from the applicable re22 served conduit. The Secretary shall determine a reason23 able timeframe for the irrigation district or water users 

24 association to accept or reject a lease of power privilege 

25 offer. If the irrigation district or water users association 


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1 elects not to accept a lease of power privilege offer under 

2 subsection (b), the Secretary shall offer the lease of power 

3 privilege to other parties using the processes applicable to 

4 such leases under section 9(c) of the Reclamation Project 

5 Act of 1939 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)). 

6 ‘‘(i) The Bureau of Reclamation shall apply its cat7 egorical exclusion process under the National Environ8 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to 

9 small conduit hydropower development under this section, 

10 excluding siting of associated transmission facilities on 

11 Federal lands. 

12 ‘‘(j) Nothing in this section shall obligate the Western 

13 Area Power Administration or the Bonneville Power Ad14 ministration to purchase or market any of the power pro15 duced by the facilities covered under this section and none 

16 of the costs associated with production or delivery of such 

17 power shall be assigned to project purposes for inclusion 

18 in project rates. 

19 ‘‘(k) Nothing in this section shall alter or impede the 

20 delivery and management of water by Bureau of Reclama21 tion facilities, as water used for conduit hydropower gen22 eration shall be deemed incidental to use of water for the 

23 original project purposes. Lease of power privilege shall 

24 be made only when, in the judgment of the Secretary, the 

25 exercise of the lease will not be incompatible with the purVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:08 Dec 10, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1963.RFS H1963

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1 poses of the project or division involved and shall not cre2 ate any unmitigated financial or physical impacts to the 

3 project or division involved. The Secretary shall notify and 

4 consult with the irrigation district or legally organized 

5 water users association operating the transferred conduit 

6 in advance of offering the lease of power privilege and 

7 shall prescribe such terms and conditions necessary to 

8 adequately protect the planning, design, construction, op9 eration, maintenance, and other interests of the United 

10 States and the project or division involved. 

11 ‘‘(l) Nothing in this section shall alter or affect any 

12 agreements in effect on the date of the enactment of the 

13 Bureau of Reclamation Conduit Hydropower Development 

14 Equity and Jobs Act for the development of conduit hy15 dropower projects or disposition of revenues. 

16 ‘‘(m) In this section: 

17 ‘‘(1) The term ‘conduit’ means any Bureau of 

18 Reclamation tunnel, canal, pipeline, aqueduct, flume, 

19 ditch, or similar manmade water conveyance that is 

20 operated for the distribution of water for agricul21 tural, municipal, or industrial consumption and not 

22 primarily for the generation of electricity. 

23 ‘‘(2) The term ‘irrigation district’ means any ir24 rigation, water conservation or conservancy, multi25 county water conservation or conservancy district, or 


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1 any separate public entity composed of two or more 

2 such districts and jointly exercising powers of its 

3 member districts. 

4 ‘‘(3) The term ‘reserved conduit’ means any 

5 conduit that is included in project works the care, 

6 operation, and maintenance of which has been re7 served by the Secretary, through the Commissioner 

8 of the Bureau of Reclamation. 

9 ‘‘(4) The term ‘transferred conduit’ means any 

10 conduit that is included in project works the care, 

11 operation, and maintenance of which has been trans12 ferred to a legally organized water users association 

13 or irrigation district. 

14 ‘‘(5) The term ‘small conduit hydropower’ 

15 means a facility capable of producing 5 megawatts 

16 or less of electric capacity.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 3, 

2013. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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