I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 495 

To update the management of Oregon water resources, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 16, 2007 

Mr. WALDEN of Oregon introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Oregon Water Re5 sources Management Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF PARTICIPATION OF BUREAU OF 

2 RECLAMATION IN DESCHUTES RIVER CON3 SERVANCY. 

4 Section 301 of the Oregon Resource Conservation Act 

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

6 3009–534) is amended— 

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

8 River Basin Working Group’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘Deschutes River Conservancy Working Group’’; 

10 (2) by amending the text of subsection 

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

12 private interests including two from irrigated agri13 culture who actively farm more than 100 acres of ir14 rigated land and are not irrigation district managers 

15 and two from the environmental community;’’; 

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

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

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

19 2007 through 2016’’; and 

20 (4) in subsection (h), by inserting before the pe21 riod at the end the following: ‘‘, and $2,000,000 for 

22 each of fiscal years 2007 through 2016’’. 

23 SEC. 3. WALLOWA LAKE DAM REHABILITATION ACT. 

24 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi25 nitions apply: 


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1 (1) ASSOCIATED DITCH COMPANIES, INCOR2 PORATED.—The term ‘‘Associated Ditch Companies, 

3 Incorporated’’ means the nonprofit corporation es4 tablished under the laws of the State of Oregon that 

5 operates Wallowa Lake Dam. 

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

7 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 

8 Commissioner of Reclamation. 

9 (3) WALLOWA LAKE DAM REHABILITATION

10 PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Wallowa Lake Dam Reha11 bilitation Program’’ means the program for the re12 habilitation of the Wallowa Lake Dam in Oregon, as 

13 contained in the engineering document titled, 

14 ‘‘Phase I Dam Assessment and Preliminary Engi15 neering Design’’, dated December 2002, and on file 

16 with the Bureau of Reclamation. 

17 (b) AUTHORIZATION TO PARTICIPATE IN PRO18 GRAM.— 

19 (1) GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREE20 MENTS.—The Secretary may provide grants to, or 

21 enter into cooperative or other agreements with, 

22 tribal, State, and local governmental entities and the 

23 Associated Ditch Companies, Incorporated, to plan, 

24 design, and construct facilities needed to implement 

25 the Wallowa Lake Dam Rehabilitation Program. 


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

2 funds under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall en3 sure that— 

4 (A) the Wallowa Lake Dam Rehabilitation 

5 Program and activities under this section meet 

6 the standards of the dam safety program of the 

7 State of Oregon; 

8 (B) the Associated Ditch Companies, In9 corporated, agrees to assume liability for any 

10 work performed, or supervised, with Federal 

11 funds provided to it under this section; and 

12 (C) the United States shall not be liable 

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

14 omission, or occurrence relating to a facility re15 habilitated or constructed with Federal funds 

16 provided under this section, both while and 

17 after activities are conducted using Federal 

18 funds provided under this section. 

19 (3) COST SHARING.— 

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

21 the costs of activities authorized under this sec22 tion shall not exceed 50 percent. 

23 (B) EXCLUSIONS FROM FEDERAL

24 SHARE.—There shall not be credited against 

25 the Federal share of such costs— 


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1 (i) any expenditure by the Bonneville 

2 Power Administration in the Wallowa 

3 River watershed; and 

4 (ii) expenditures made by individual 

5 agricultural producers in any Federal com6 modity or conservation program. 

7 (4) COMPLIANCE WITH STATE LAW.—The Sec8 retary, in carrying out this section, shall comply 

9 with applicable Oregon State water law. 

10 (5) PROHIBITION ON HOLDING TITLE.—The 

11 Federal Government shall not hold title to any facil12 ity rehabilitated or constructed under this section. 

13 (6) PROHIBITION ON OPERATION AND MAINTE14 NANCE.—The Federal Government shall not be re15 sponsible for the operation and maintenance of any 

16 facility constructed or rehabilitated under this sec17 tion. 

18 (c) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAW.—Activities fund19 ed under this section shall not be considered a supple20 mental or additional benefit under Federal reclamation 

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

22 1093), and Acts supplemental to and amendatory of that 

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

24 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

25 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to pay the 


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1 Federal share of the costs of activities authorized under 

2 this section, $6,000,000. 

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

4 out any provisions of this section shall terminate 10 years 

5 after the date of the enactment of this section. 

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

7 WATER RESOURCE STUDY. 

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

9 acting through the Bureau of Reclamation, may partici10 pate in the Water for Irrigation, Streams and the Econ11 omy Project water management feasibility study and envi12 ronmental impact statement in accordance with the 

13 ‘‘Memorandum of Agreement Between City of Medford 

14 and Bureau of Reclamation for the Water for Irrigation, 

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

16 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

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

18 appropriated to the Bureau of Reclamation 

19 $500,000 to carry out activities under this section. 

20 (2) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.— 

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

22 shall be 50 percent of the total costs of the Bu23 reau of Reclamation in carrying out subsection 

24 (a). 


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1 (B) FORM.—The non-Federal share re2 quired under subparagraph (A) may be in the 

3 form of any in-kind services that the Secretary 

4 of the Interior determines would contribute sub5 stantially toward the conduct and completion of 

6 the study and environmental impact statement 

7 required under subsection (a). 

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

9 out any provisions of this section shall terminate 10 years 

10 after the date of the enactment of this section. 

11 SEC. 5. NORTH UNIT IRRIGATION DISTRICT. 

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

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

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

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

16 (1) in the first section— 

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

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

19 and 

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

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

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

23 ‘‘SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL TERMS. 

24 ‘‘On approval of the District directors and notwith25 standing project authorizing legislation to the contrary, 


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1 the Contract is modified, without further action by the 

2 Secretary of the Interior, to include the following modi3 fications: 

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

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

6 59,000’ after ‘irrigation service to’. 

7 ‘‘(2) In Article 11(a) of the Contract, by delet8 ing ‘The classified irrigable lands within the project 

9 comprise 49,817.75 irrigable acres, of which 

10 35,773.75 acres are in Class A and 14,044.40 in 

11 Class B. These lands and the standards upon which 

12 the classification was made are described in the doc13 ument entitled ‘‘Land Classification, North Unit, 

14 Deschutes Project, 1953’’ which is on file in the of15 fice of the Regional Director, Bureau of Reclama16 tion, Boise, Idaho, and in the office of the District’ 

17 and inserting ‘The classified irrigable land within 

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

19 which are authorized to receive irrigation water pur20 suant to water rights issued by the State of Oregon 

21 and have in the past received water pursuant to 

22 such State water rights.’. 

23 ‘‘(3) In Article 11(c) of the Contract, by delet24 ing ‘, with the approval of the Secretary,’ after ‘Dis25 trict may’, by deleting ‘the 49,817.75 acre maximum 


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1 limit on the irrigable area is not exceeded’ and in2 serting ‘irrigation service is provided to no more 

3 than approximately 59,000 acres and no amendment 

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

5 long as’. 

6 ‘‘(4) In Article 11(d) of the Contract, by insert7 ing ‘, and may further be used for instream pur8 poses, including fish or wildlife purposes, to the ex9 tent that such use is required by Oregon State law 

10 in order for the District to engage in, or take advan11 tage of, conserved water projects as authorized by 

12 Oregon State law’ after ‘herein provided’. 

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

14 following: ‘(e) Notwithstanding the above subsections 

15 of this Article or Article 13 below, beginning with 

16 the irrigation season immediately following the date 

17 of enactment of the North Unit Irrigation District 

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

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

20 the District’s construction charge obligation, shall be 

21 a fixed and equal annual amount payable on June 

22 30 the year following the year for which it is appli23 cable, such that the District’s total construction 

24 charge obligation shall be completely paid by June 

25 30, 2044.’. 


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1 ‘‘(6) In Article 14(a) of the Contract, by insert2 ing ‘and for instream purposes, including fish or 

3 wildlife purposes, to the extent that such use is re4 quired by Oregon State law in order for the District 

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

6 projects as authorized by Oregon State law,’ after 

7 ‘and incidental stock and domestic uses’, by insert8 ing ‘and for instream purposes as described above,’ 

9 after ‘irrigation, stock and domestic uses’, and by in10 serting ‘, including natural flow rights out of the 

11 Crooked River held by the District’ after ‘irrigation 

12 system’. 

13 ‘‘(7) In Article 29(a) of the Contract, by insert14 ing ‘and for instream purposes, including fish or 

15 wildlife purposes, to the extent that such use is re16 quired by Oregon State law in order for the District 

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

18 projects as authorized by Oregon State law’ after 

19 ‘provided in article 11’. 

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

21 ‘The District, after the election and upon the execu22 tion of this contract, shall promptly secure final de23 cree of the proper State court approving and con24 firming this contract and decreeing and adjudging it 

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


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1 of the District. The District shall furnish to the 

2 United States certified copies of such decrees and of 

3 all pertinent supporting records.’ after ‘for that pur4 pose.’. 

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

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

7 Commissioner of Reclamation) may in the future renego8 tiate with the District such terms of the Contract as the 

9 District directors determine to be necessary, only upon the 

10 written request of the District directors and the consent 

11 of the Commissioner of Reclamation.’’. 

Æ 


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