II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2010 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2014 

Mr. BARRASSO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

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. 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT. 

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

3 construction of water conservation and utilization projects 

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

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

6 commonly known as the ‘‘Water Conservation and Utiliza7 tion Act’’), is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘In connection with’’ and insert9 ing ‘‘(a) In connection with’’; and 

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

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

12 authorized to enter into leases of power privileges for elec13 tric power generation in connection with any project con14 structed under this Act, and shall have authority in addi15 tion to and alternative to any authority in existing laws 

16 relating to particular projects, including small conduit hy17 dropower development. 

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

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

20 applicable to such leases under section 9(c) of the Rec21 lamation Project Act of 1939 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)). 

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

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

24 revenues at least sufficient to cover the appropriate share 

25 of the annual operation and maintenance cost of the 

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


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1 Secretary deems proper. Lease of power privilege con2 tracts shall be for periods not to exceed 40 years. 

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

4 for a lease under subsection (b). 

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

6 facilities constructed by non-Federal entities pursuant to 

7 a lease of power privilege, and direct revenues derived 

8 therefrom, shall remain with the lessee unless otherwise 

9 required under subsection (g). 

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

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

12 Fund to be credited to the project from which those reve13 nues or charges were derived. 

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

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

16 district or water users’ association operating the applica17 ble transferred conduit, or to the irrigation district or 

18 water users’ association receiving water from the applica19 ble reserved conduit. The Secretary shall determine a rea20 sonable timeframe for the irrigation district or water 

21 users’ association to accept or reject a lease of power privi22 lege offer. If the irrigation district or water users’ associa23 tion elects not to accept a lease of power privilege offer 

24 under subsection (b), the Secretary shall offer the lease 

25 of power privilege to other parties using the processes apVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:23 Feb 11, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2010.IS S2010

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1 plicable to such leases under section 9(c) of the Reclama2 tion Project Act of 1939 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)). 

3 ‘‘(i) The Bureau of Reclamation shall apply its cat4 egorical exclusion process under the National Environ5 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to 

6 small conduit hydropower development under this section, 

7 excluding siting of associated transmission facilities on 

8 Federal lands. 

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

10 Area Power Administration or the Bonneville Power Ad11 ministration to purchase or market any of the power pro12 duced by the facilities covered under this section and none 

13 of the costs associated with production or delivery of such 

14 power shall be assigned to project purposes for inclusion 

15 in project rates. 

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

17 delivery and management of water by Bureau of Reclama18 tion facilities, as water used for conduit hydropower gen19 eration shall be deemed incidental to use of water for the 

20 original project purposes. Lease of power privilege shall 

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

22 exercise of the lease will not be incompatible with the pur23 poses of the project or division involved and shall not cre24 ate any unmitigated financial or physical impacts to the 

25 project or division involved. The Secretary shall notify and 


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1 consult with the irrigation district or legally organized 

2 water users’ association operating the transferred conduit 

3 in advance of offering the lease of power privilege and 

4 shall prescribe such terms and conditions necessary to 

5 adequately protect the planning, design, construction, op6 eration, maintenance, and other interests of the United 

7 States and the project or division involved. 

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

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

10 Bureau of Reclamation Conduit Hydropower Development 

11 Equity and Jobs Act for the development of conduit hy12 dropower projects or disposition of revenues. 

13 ‘‘(m) In this section: 

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

15 Reclamation tunnel, canal, pipeline, aqueduct, flume, 

16 ditch, or similar manmade water conveyance that is 

17 operated for the distribution of water for agricul18 tural, municipal, or industrial consumption and not 

19 primarily for the generation of electricity. 

20 ‘‘(2) The term ‘irrigation district’ means any ir21 rigation, water conservation or conservancy, multi22 county water conservation or conservancy district, or 

23 any separate public entity composed of two or more 

24 such districts and jointly exercising powers of its 

25 member districts. 


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

2 conduit that is included in project works the care, 

3 operation, and maintenance of which has been re4 served by the Secretary, through the Commissioner 

5 of the Bureau of Reclamation. 

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

7 conduit that is included in project works the care, 

8 operation, and maintenance of which has been trans9 ferred to a legally organized water users’ association 

10 or irrigation district. 

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

12 means a facility capable of producing 5 megawatts 

13 or less of electric capacity.’’. 

Æ 


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