IIB 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 495 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 24, 2007 

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

Resources 

AN ACT 

To update the management of Oregon water resources, 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 ‘‘Oregon Water Re3 sources Management Act of 2007’’. 

4 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF PARTICIPATION OF BUREAU OF 

5 RECLAMATION IN DESCHUTES RIVER CON6 SERVANCY. 

7 Section 301 of the Oregon Resource Conservation Act 

8 of 1996 (division B of Public Law 104–208; 110 Stat. 

9 3009–534) is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘Deschutes 

11 River Basin Working Group’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘Deschutes River Conservancy Working Group’’; 

13 (2) by amending the text of subsection 

14 (a)(1)(B) to read as follows: ‘‘4 representatives of 

15 private interests including two from irrigated agri16 culture who actively farm more than 100 acres of ir17 rigated land and are not irrigation district managers 

18 and two from the environmental community;’’; 

19 (3) in subsection (b)(3), by inserting before the 

20 final period the following: ‘‘, and up to a total 

21 amount of $2,000,000 during each of fiscal years 

22 2007 through 2016’’; and 

23 (4) in subsection (h), by inserting before the pe24 riod at the end the following: ‘‘, and $2,000,000 for 

25 each of fiscal years 2007 through 2016’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. WALLOWA LAKE DAM REHABILITATION ACT. 

2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi3 nitions apply: 

4 (1) ASSOCIATED DITCH COMPANIES, INCOR5 PORATED.—The term ‘‘Associated Ditch Companies, 

6 Incorporated’’ means the nonprofit corporation es7 tablished under the laws of the State of Oregon that 

8 operates Wallowa Lake Dam. 

9 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

10 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 

11 Commissioner of Reclamation. 

12 (3) WALLOWA LAKE DAM REHABILITATION

13 PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Wallowa Lake Dam Reha14 bilitation Program’’ means the program for the re15 habilitation of the Wallowa Lake Dam in Oregon, as 

16 contained in the engineering document titled, 

17 ‘‘Phase I Dam Assessment and Preliminary Engi18 neering Design’’, dated December 2002, and on file 

19 with the Bureau of Reclamation. 

20 (b) AUTHORIZATION TO PARTICIPATE IN PRO21 GRAM.— 

22 (1) GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREE23 MENTS.—The Secretary may provide grants to, or 

24 enter into cooperative or other agreements with, 

25 tribal, State, and local governmental entities and the 

26 Associated Ditch Companies, Incorporated, to plan, 


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1 design, and construct facilities needed to implement 

2 the Wallowa Lake Dam Rehabilitation Program. 

3 (2) CONDITIONS.—As a condition of providing 

4 funds under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall en5 sure that— 

6 (A) the Wallowa Lake Dam Rehabilitation 

7 Program and activities under this section meet 

8 the standards of the dam safety program of the 

9 State of Oregon; 

10 (B) the Associated Ditch Companies, In11 corporated, agrees to assume liability for any 

12 work performed, or supervised, with Federal 

13 funds provided to it under this section; and 

14 (C) the United States shall not be liable 

15 for damages of any kind arising out of any act, 

16 omission, or occurrence relating to a facility re17 habilitated or constructed with Federal funds 

18 provided under this section, both while and 

19 after activities are conducted using Federal 

20 funds provided under this section. 

21 (3) COST SHARING.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of 

23 the costs of activities authorized under this sec24 tion shall not exceed 50 percent. 


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1 (B) EXCLUSIONS FROM FEDERAL

2 SHARE.—There shall not be credited against 

3 the Federal share of such costs— 

4 (i) any expenditure by the Bonneville 

5 Power Administration in the Wallowa 

6 River watershed; and 

7 (ii) expenditures made by individual 

8 agricultural producers in any Federal com9 modity or conservation program. 

10 (4) COMPLIANCE WITH STATE LAW.—The Sec11 retary, in carrying out this section, shall comply 

12 with applicable Oregon State water law. 

13 (5) PROHIBITION ON HOLDING TITLE.—The 

14 Federal Government shall not hold title to any facil15 ity rehabilitated or constructed under this section. 

16 (6) PROHIBITION ON OPERATION AND MAINTE17 NANCE.—The Federal Government shall not be re18 sponsible for the operation and maintenance of any 

19 facility constructed or rehabilitated under this sec20 tion. 

21 (c) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAW.—Activities fund22 ed under this section shall not be considered a supple23 mental or additional benefit under Federal reclamation 

24 law (the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388, chapter 


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1 1093), and Acts supplemental to and amendatory of that 

2 Act (43 U.S.C. 371 et seq.)). 

3 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to pay the 

5 Federal share of the costs of activities authorized under 

6 this section, $6,000,000. 

7 (e) SUNSET.—The authority of the Secretary to carry 

8 out any provisions of this section shall terminate 10 years 

9 after the date of the enactment of this section. 

10 SEC. 4. LITTLE BUTTE/BEAR CREEK SUBBASINS, OREGON, 

11 WATER RESOURCE STUDY. 

12 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary of the Interior, 

13 acting through the Bureau of Reclamation, may partici14 pate in the Water for Irrigation, Streams and the Econ15 omy Project water management feasibility study and envi16 ronmental impact statement in accordance with the 

17 ‘‘Memorandum of Agreement Between City of Medford 

18 and Bureau of Reclamation for the Water for Irrigation, 

19 Streams, and the Economy Project’’, dated July 2, 2004. 

20 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

22 appropriated to the Bureau of Reclamation 

23 $500,000 to carry out activities under this section. 

24 (2) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The non-Federal share 

2 shall be 50 percent of the total costs of the Bu3 reau of Reclamation in carrying out subsection 

4 (a). 

5 (B) FORM.—The non-Federal share re6 quired under subparagraph (A) may be in the 

7 form of any in-kind services that the Secretary 

8 of the Interior determines would contribute sub9 stantially toward the conduct and completion of 

10 the study and environmental impact statement 

11 required under subsection (a). 

12 (c) SUNSET.—The authority of the Secretary to carry 

13 out any provisions of this section shall terminate 10 years 

14 after the date of the enactment of this section. 

15 SEC. 5. NORTH UNIT IRRIGATION DISTRICT. 

16 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

17 ‘‘North Unit Irrigation District Act of 2007’’. 

18 (b) AMENDMENT.—The Act of August 10, 1954 (68 

19 Stat. 679, chapter 663), is amended— 

20 (1) in the first section— 

21 (A) by inserting ‘‘(referred to in this Act 

22 as the ‘District’)’’ after ‘‘irrigation district’’; 

23 and 

24 (B) by inserting ‘‘(referred to in this Act 

25 as the ‘Contract’)’’ after ‘‘1953’’; and 


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

2 ‘‘SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL TERMS. 

3 ‘‘On approval of the District directors and notwith4 standing project authorizing legislation to the contrary, 

5 the Contract is modified, without further action by the 

6 Secretary of the Interior, to include the following modi7 fications: 

8 ‘‘(1) In Article 8(a) of the Contract, by deleting 

9 ‘a maximum of 50,000’ and inserting ‘approximately 

10 59,000’ after ‘irrigation service to’. 

11 ‘‘(2) In Article 11(a) of the Contract, by delet12 ing ‘The classified irrigable lands within the project 

13 comprise 49,817.75 irrigable acres, of which 

14 35,773.75 acres are in Class A and 14,044.40 in 

15 Class B. These lands and the standards upon which 

16 the classification was made are described in the doc17 ument entitled ‘‘Land Classification, North Unit, 

18 Deschutes Project, 1953’’ which is on file in the of19 fice of the Regional Director, Bureau of Reclama20 tion, Boise, Idaho, and in the office of the District’ 

21 and inserting ‘The classified irrigable land within 

22 the project comprises 58,902.8 irrigable acres, all of 

23 which are authorized to receive irrigation water pur24 suant to water rights issued by the State of Oregon 


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1 and have in the past received water pursuant to 

2 such State water rights.’. 

3 ‘‘(3) In Article 11(c) of the Contract, by delet4 ing ‘, with the approval of the Secretary,’ after ‘Dis5 trict may’, by deleting ‘the 49,817.75 acre maximum 

6 limit on the irrigable area is not exceeded’ and in7 serting ‘irrigation service is provided to no more 

8 than approximately 59,000 acres and no amendment 

9 to the District boundary is required’ after ‘time so 

10 long as’. 

11 ‘‘(4) In Article 11(d) of the Contract, by insert12 ing ‘, and may further be used for instream pur13 poses, including fish or wildlife purposes, to the ex14 tent that such use is required by Oregon State law 

15 in order for the District to engage in, or take advan16 tage of, conserved water projects as authorized by 

17 Oregon State law’ after ‘herein provided’. 

18 ‘‘(5) By adding at the end of Article 12(d) the 

19 following: ‘(e) Notwithstanding the above subsections 

20 of this Article or Article 13 below, beginning with 

21 the irrigation season immediately following the date 

22 of enactment of the North Unit Irrigation District 

23 Act of 2007, the annual installment for each year, 

24 for the District, under the Contract, on account of 

25 the District’s construction charge obligation, shall be 


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1 a fixed and equal annual amount payable on June 

2 30 the year following the year for which it is appli3 cable, such that the District’s total construction 

4 charge obligation shall be completely paid by June 

5 30, 2044.’. 

6 ‘‘(6) In Article 14(a) of the Contract, by insert7 ing ‘and for instream purposes, including fish or 

8 wildlife purposes, to the extent that such use is re9 quired by Oregon State law in order for the District 

10 to engage in, or take advantage of, conserved water 

11 projects as authorized by Oregon State law,’ after 

12 ‘and incidental stock and domestic uses’, by insert13 ing ‘and for instream purposes as described above,’ 

14 after ‘irrigation, stock and domestic uses’, and by in15 serting ‘, including natural flow rights out of the 

16 Crooked River held by the District’ after ‘irrigation 

17 system’. 

18 ‘‘(7) In Article 29(a) of the Contract, by insert19 ing ‘and for instream purposes, including fish or 

20 wildlife purposes, to the extent that such use is re21 quired by Oregon State law in order for the District 

22 to engage in, or take advantage of, conserved water 

23 projects as authorized by Oregon State law’ after 

24 ‘provided in article 11’. 


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1 ‘‘(8) In Article 34 of the Contract, by deleting 

2 ‘The District, after the election and upon the execu3 tion of this contract, shall promptly secure final de4 cree of the proper State court approving and con5 firming this contract and decreeing and adjudging it 

6 to be a lawful, valid, and binding general obligation 

7 of the District. The District shall furnish to the 

8 United States certified copies of such decrees and of 

9 all pertinent supporting records.’ after ‘for that pur10 pose.’. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 4. FUTURE AUTHORITY TO RENEGOTIATE. 

12 ‘‘The Secretary of the Interior (acting through the 

13 Commissioner of Reclamation) may in the future renego14 tiate with the District such terms of the Contract as the 

15 District directors determine to be necessary, only upon the 

16 written request of the District directors and the consent 

17 of the Commissioner of Reclamation.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 23, 2007. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 

By DEBORAH M. SPRIGGS, 

Deputy Clerk. 


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