IB 

Union Calendar No. 177 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1963 

[Report No. 113–249] 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2013 

Mr. DAINES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

OCTOBER 22, 2013 

Additional sponsors: Mr. TIPTON, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. CRAMER, and Mrs. 

LUMMIS

OCTOBER 22, 2013 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 14, 2013] 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 1963 RH

A BILL 

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. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 1963 RH

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 ‘‘Bureau of Reclamation 

5 Conduit Hydropower Development Equity and Jobs Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT. 

7 Section 9 of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act authorizing con8 struction of water conservation and utilization projects in 

9 the Great Plains and arid semiarid areas of the United 

10 States’’, approved August 11, 1939 (16 U.S.C. 590z–7; com11 monly known as the ‘‘Water Conservation and Utilization 

12 Act’’), is amended— 

13 (1) by striking ‘‘In connection with’’ and insert14 ing ‘‘(a) In connection with’’; and 

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

16 ‘‘(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the 

17 Secretary is authorized to enter into leases of power privi18 leges for electric power generation in connection with any 

19 project constructed under this Act, and shall have authority 

20 in addition to and alternative to any authority in existing 

21 laws relating to particular projects, including small conduit 

22 hydropower development, consistent with the terms of this 

23 Act, the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (43 U.S.C. 485h), 

24 and other Federal reclamation laws. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 1963 RH

1 ‘‘(c) All right, title, and interest to installed power fa2 cilities constructed by non-Federal entities pursuant to a 

3 lease of power privilege, and direct revenues derived there4 from, shall remain with the lessee unless otherwise required 

5 in subsection (d). 

6 ‘‘(d) Lease of power privilege charges or fees under this 

7 section shall be credited to the facility from which those rev8 enues were derived. 

9 ‘‘(e) When carrying out this section, the Secretary shall 

10 first offer the lease of power privilege to an irrigation dis11 trict or water users association operating the applicable 

12 transferred conduit, or to the irrigation district or water 

13 users association receiving water from the applicable re14 served conduit. The Secretary shall determine a reasonable 

15 timeframe for the irrigation district or water users associa16 tion to accept or reject a lease of power privilege offer. If 

17 the irrigation district or water users association elects not 

18 to accept a lease of power privilege offer under paragraph 

19 (1), the Secretary shall offer the lease of power privilege 

20 to other parties in accordance with this section. 

21 ‘‘(f) The Bureau of Reclamation shall apply its cat22 egorical exclusion process under the National Environ23 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to small 

24 conduit hydropower development under this section, excludVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:07 Oct 22, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1963.RH H1963

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 1963 RH

1 ing siting of associated transmission facilities on Federal 

2 lands. 

3 ‘‘(g) Nothing in this section shall obligate the Western 

4 Area Power Administration or the Bonneville Power Ad5 ministration to purchase or market any of the power pro6 duced by the facilities covered under this section and none 

7 of the costs associated with production or delivery of such 

8 power shall be assigned to project purposes for inclusion 

9 in project rates. 

10 ‘‘(h) Nothing in this section shall alter or impede the 

11 delivery and management of water by Bureau of Reclama12 tion facilities, as water used for conduit hydropower genera13 tion shall be deemed incidental to use of water for the origi14 nal project purposes. Lease of power privilege shall be made 

15 only when, in the judgment of the Secretary, the exercise 

16 of the lease will not be incompatible with the purposes of 

17 the project or division involved and shall not create any 

18 unmitigated financial or physical impacts to the project or 

19 division involved. The Secretary shall notify and consult 

20 with the irrigation district or legally organized water users 

21 association operating the transferred conduit in advance of 

22 offering the lease of power privilege and shall prescribe such 

23 terms and conditions necessary to adequately protect the 

24 planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 1963 RH

1 and other interests of the United States and the project or 

2 division involved. 

3 ‘‘(i) Nothing in this section shall alter or affect any 

4 agreements in effect on the date of the enactment of the Bu5 reau of Reclamation Conduit Hydropower Development Eq6 uity and Jobs Act for the development of conduit hydro7 power projects or disposition of revenues. 

8 ‘‘(j) In this section: 

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

10 Reclamation tunnel, canal, pipeline, aqueduct, flume, 

11 ditch, or similar manmade water conveyance that is 

12 operated for the distribution of water for agricultural, 

13 municipal, or industrial consumption and not pri14 marily for the generation of electricity. 

15 ‘‘(2) The term ‘irrigation district’ means any ir16 rigation, water conservation or conservancy, multi17 county water conservation or conservancy district, or 

18 any separate public entity composed of two or more 

19 such districts and jointly exercising powers of its 

20 member districts. 

21 ‘‘(3) The term ‘reserved conduit’ means any con22 duit that is included in project works the care, oper23 ation, and maintenance of which has been reserved by 

24 the Secretary, through the Commissioner of the Bu25 reau of Reclamation. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 1963 RH

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

2 conduit that is included in project works the care, op3 eration, and maintenance of which has been trans4 ferred to a legally organized water users association 

5 or irrigation district. 

6 ‘‘(5) The term ‘small conduit hydropower’ means 

7 a facility capable of producing 5 megawatts or less of 

8 electric capacity.’’. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 177 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1963 

[Report No. 113–249] 

A BILL 

To amend the Water Conservation and Utilization 

Act, and for other purposes. thority of the Water Conservation and Utilization leges at projects constructed pursuant to the auhydropower and issuance of leases of power priviAct to authorize the development of non-Federal 

OCTOBER 22, 2013 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS