II 

Calendar No. 72 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 678 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 15, 2013 

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

Resources 

MAY 13, 2013 

Reported by Mr. WYDEN, without amendment 

AN ACT 

To authorize all Bureau of Reclamation conduit facilities 

for hydropower development under Federal Reclamation 

law, 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 Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION. 

2 Section 9(c) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 

3 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)) is amended— 

4 (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary is authorized to 

5 enter into contracts to furnish water’’ and inserting 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) The Secretary is authorized to enter into 

8 contracts to furnish water’’; 

9 (2) by striking ‘‘(1) shall’’ and inserting ‘‘(A) 

10 shall’’; 

11 (3) by striking ‘‘(2) shall’’ and inserting ‘‘(B) 

12 shall’’; 

13 (4) by striking ‘‘respecting the terms of sales of 

14 electric power and leases of power privileges shall be 

15 in addition and alternative to any authority in exist16 ing laws relating to particular projects’’ and insert17 ing ‘‘respecting the sales of electric power and leases 

18 of power privileges shall be an authorization in addi19 tion to and alternative to any authority in existing 

20 laws related to particular projects, including small 

21 conduit hydropower development’’; and 

22 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(2)(A) When carrying out this subsection, 

24 the Secretary shall first offer the lease of power 

25 privilege to an irrigation district or water users 

26 association operating the applicable transferred 


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1 conduit, or to the irrigation district or water 

2 users association receiving water from the ap3 plicable reserved conduit. The Secretary shall 

4 determine a reasonable time frame for the irri5 gation district or water users association to ac6 cept or reject a lease of power privilege offer for 

7 a small conduit hydropower project. 

8 ‘‘(B) If the irrigation district or water 

9 users association elects not accept a lease of 

10 power privilege offer under subparagraph (A), 

11 the Secretary shall offer the lease of power 

12 privilege to other parties in accordance with 

13 this subsection. 

14 ‘‘(3) The Bureau of Reclamation shall 

15 apply its categorical exclusion process under the 

16 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

17 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to small conduit hydro18 power development under this subsection, ex19 cluding siting of associated transmission facili20 ties on Federal lands. 

21 ‘‘(4) The Power Resources Office of the 

22 Bureau of Reclamation shall be the lead office 

23 of small conduit hydropower policy and proce24 dure-setting activities conducted under this sub25 section. 


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1 ‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection shall obli2 gate the Western Area Power Administration, 

3 the Bonneville Power Administration, or the 

4 Southwestern Power Administration to pur5 chase or market any of the power produced by 

6 the facilities covered under this subsection and 

7 none of the costs associated with production or 

8 delivery of such power shall be assigned to 

9 project purposes for inclusion in project rates. 

10 ‘‘(6) Nothing in this subsection shall alter 

11 or impede the delivery and management of 

12 water by Bureau of Reclamation facilities, as 

13 water used for conduit hydropower generation 

14 shall be deemed incidental to use of water for 

15 the original project purposes. Lease of power 

16 privilege shall be made only when, in the judg17 ment of the Secretary, the exercise of the lease 

18 will not be incompatible with the purposes of 

19 the project or division involved, nor shall it cre20 ate any unmitigated financial or physical im21 pacts to the project or division involved. The 

22 Secretary shall notify and consult with the irri23 gation district or water users association oper24 ating the transferred conduit before offering the 

25 lease of power privilege and shall prescribe 


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1 terms and conditions that will adequately pro2 tect the planning, design, construction, oper3 ation, maintenance, and other interests of the 

4 United States and the project or division in5 volved. 

6 ‘‘(7) Nothing in this subsection shall alter 

7 or affect any existing agreements for the devel8 opment of conduit hydropower projects or dis9 position of revenues. 

10 ‘‘(8) Nothing in this subsection shall alter 

11 or affect any existing preliminary permit, li12 cense, or exemption issued by the Federal En13 ergy Regulatory Commission under Part I of 

14 the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 792 et seq.) 

15 or any project for which an application has 

16 been filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory 

17 Commission as of the date of the enactment of 

18 the Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hy19 dropower Development and Rural Jobs Act. 

20 ‘‘(9) In this subsection: 

21 ‘‘(A) CONDUIT.—The term ‘conduit’ 

22 means any Bureau of Reclamation tunnel, 

23 canal, pipeline, aqueduct, flume, ditch, or 

24 similar manmade water conveyance that is 

25 operated for the distribution of water for 


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1 agricultural, municipal, or industrial con2 sumption and not primarily for the genera3 tion of electricity. 

4 ‘‘(B) IRRIGATION DISTRICT.—The 

5 term ‘irrigation district’ means any irriga6 tion, water conservation or conservancy, 

7 multicounty water conservation or conser8 vancy district, or any separate public enti9 ty composed of two or more such districts 

10 and jointly exercising powers of its member 

11 districts. 

12 ‘‘(C) RESERVED CONDUIT.—The term 

13 ‘reserved conduit’ means any conduit that 

14 is included in project works the care, oper15 ation, and maintenance of which has been 

16 reserved by the Secretary, through the 

17 Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclama18 tion. 

19 ‘‘(D) TRANSFERRED CONDUIT.—The 

20 term ‘transferred conduit’ means any con21 duit that is included in project works the 

22 care, operation, and maintenance of which 

23 has been transferred to a legally organized 

24 water users association or irrigation dis25 trict. 


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1 ‘‘(E) SMALL CONDUIT HYDRO2 POWER.—The term ‘small conduit hydro3 power’ means a facility capable of pro4 ducing 5 megawatts or less of electric ca5 pacity.’’. 


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Calendar No. 72 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 678 

AN ACT 

To authorize all Bureau of Reclamation conduit faeral Reclamation law, and for other purposes. cilities for hydropower development under FedMAY 13, 2013 

Reported without amendment 


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