I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3937 

To redesignate the facility of the Bureau of Reclamation located at Highway155, Coulee Dam, WA 99116, as the ‘‘Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Washington 

Power Plant’’. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 24, 2019 

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

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To redesignate the facility of the Bureau of Reclamation 

located at Highway-155, Coulee Dam, WA 99116, as 

the ‘‘Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Washington Power Plant’’. 

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

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds as follows: 

5 (1) Both Nathaniel ‘‘Nat’’ Washington, Sr., 

6 and his son, Nat, Jr., direct descendants of the fam7 ily of President George Washington, were pioneers 

8 for the development of hydropower and strong proVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:25 Aug 04, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3937.IH H3937

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1 ponents of hydropower’s many benefits for Wash2 ington State and the Pacific Northwest. 

3 (2) In 1908, Nat Washington, Sr., left his 

4 home in Virginia and established a homestead along 

5 the Columbia River in the area of Grand Coulee, 

6 Washington. In 1916, he was elected Grant County 

7 prosecutor. 

8 (3) As the first president of the Columbia River 

9 Dam, Irrigation, and Power District, Nat Wash10 ington, Sr., played a key role in developing the con11 cept of, and securing the approval for, the construc12 tion of the Grand Coulee Dam. 

13 (4) In 1926, Nat Washington, Sr., fell victim to 

14 the power of the Columbia River when he was swept 

15 away in the current, losing his life while attempting 

16 to save his brother James from drowning. 

17 (5) Nat Washington, Jr., followed in his fa18 ther’s footsteps by serving as Grant County pros19 ecutor after earning his law degree at the University 

20 of Washington, where he was elected student body 

21 president at the University of Washington as an un22 dergraduate. 

23 (6) Nat Washington, Jr., served in the Wash24 ington State Legislature for 30 years and was in25 strumental in the development of several hydropower 


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1 projects across the region, as well as the Columbia 

2 Basin Project, which utilizes the Grand Coulee Dam 

3 to supply water for irrigation to 10,000 farms on 

4 671,000 acres of farmland in the Columbia Basin. 

5 (7) When the Third Power Plant was completed 

6 in 1980, Grand Coulee Dam became the largest hy7 dropower generating facility in the world. With a 

8 6,809 megawatt generating capacity, supplying an 

9 average of 21 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to 

10 11 States and Canada each year, Grand Coulee is 

11 the largest power station in the nation. 

12 (8) The vision, advocacy, and public service of 

13 Nat Washington, Sr., and his son, Nat, Jr., fun14 damentally transformed the Columbia Basin, Wash15 ington State, and the entire Pacific Northwest by se16 curing hydropower—a clean, affordable, and reliable 

17 source of energy—as the foundation of the region’s 

18 power system. 

19 SEC. 2. REDESIGNATION OF FACILITY. 

20 The facility of the Bureau of Reclamation located at 

21 Highway-155, Coulee Dam, WA 99116, known as the 

22 Third Powerplant, shall be known and designated as the 

23 ‘‘Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Washington Power Plant’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. REFERENCES. 

2 Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, 

3 paper or other record of the United States to the facility 

4 referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a reference 

5 to the Nathaniel ‘‘Nat’’ Washington Power Plant. 

Æ 


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