II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1544

To authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to provide cost sharing for the

endangered fish recovery implementation programs for the Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 5, 1999

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

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to provide cost

sharing for the endangered fish recovery implementation

programs for the Upper Colorado and San Juan River

Basins.

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

3 SECTION 1. PURPOSE.

4 The purpose of this Act is to authorize and provide

5 funding for the Bureau of Reclamation to continue the

6 implementation of the endangered fish recovery implemen7 tation programs for the Upper Colorado and San Juan
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1 River Basins in order to accomplish the objectives of these

2 programs within a currently established time schedule.

3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

4 As used in this Act:

5 (1) The term ‘‘Recovery Implementation Pro6 grams’’ means the intergovernmental programs es7 tablished pursuant to the 1988 Cooperative Agree8 ment to implement the Recovery Implementation

9 Program for the Endangered Fish Species in the

10 Upper Colorado River dated September 29, 1987,

11 and the 1992 Cooperative Agreement to implement

12 the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Pro13 gram dated October 21, 1992, and as they may be

14 amended by the parties thereto.

15 (2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

16 of the Interior.

17 (3) The term ‘‘Upper Division States’’ means

18 the States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wy19 oming.

20 (4) The term ‘‘Colorado River Storage Project’’

21 or ‘‘storage project’’ means those dams, reservoirs,

22 power plants, and other appurtenant project facili23 ties and features authorized by and constructed in

24 accordance with the Colorado River Storage Project

25 Act (43 U.S.C. 620 et seq.).
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1 (5) The term ‘‘capital projects’’ means plan2 ning, design, permitting or other compliance, pre3 construction activities, construction, construction

4 management, and replacement of facilities, and the

5 acquisition of interests in land or water, as nec6 essary to carry out the Recovery Implementation

7 Programs.

8 (6) The term ‘‘facilities’’ includes facilities for

9 the genetic conservation or propagation of the en10 dangered fishes, those for the restoration of flood11 plain habitat or fish passage, those for control or

12 supply of instream flows, and those for the removal

13 or translocation of nonnative fishes.

14 (7) The term ‘‘interests in land and water’’ in15 cludes, but is not limited to, long-term leases and

16 easements, and long-term enforcement, or other

17 agreements protecting instream flows.

18 (8) The term ‘‘base funding’’ means funding for

19 operation and maintenance of capital projects, im20 plementation of recovery actions other than capital

21 projects, monitoring and research to evaluate the

22 need for or effectiveness of any recovery action, and

23 program management, as necessary to carry out the

24 Recovery Implementation Programs. Base funding

25 also includes annual funding provided under the
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1 terms of the 1988 Cooperative Agreement and the

2 1992 Cooperative Agreement.

3 (9) The term ‘‘recovery actions other than cap4 ital projects’’ includes short-term leases and agree5 ments for interests in land, water, and facilities; the

6 reintroduction or augmentation of endangered fish

7 stocks; and the removal, translocation, or other con8 trol of nonnative fishes.

9 (10) The term ‘‘depletion charge’’ means a one10 time contribution in dollars per acre-foot to be paid

11 to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service based

12 on the average annual new depletion by each project.

13 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION TO FUND RECOVERY PROGRAMS.

14 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR FED15 ERAL PARTICIPATION IN CAPITAL PROJECTS.—(1) There

16 is hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary,

17 $46,000,000 to undertake capital projects to carry out the

18 purposes of this Act. Such funds shall be considered a

19 nonreimbursable Federal expenditure.

20 (2) The authority of the Secretary, acting through

21 the Bureau of Reclamation, under this or any other provi22 sion of law to implement capital projects for the Recovery

23 Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in

24 the Upper Colorado River Basin shall expire in fiscal year

25 2005 unless reauthorized by an Act of Congress.
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1 (3) The authority of the Secretary to implement the

2 capital projects for the San Juan River Basin Recovery

3 Implementation Program shall expire in fiscal year 2007

4 unless reauthorized by an Act of Congress.

5 (b) COST OF CAPITAL PROJECTS.—The total costs

6 of the capital projects undertaken for the Recovery Imple7 mentation Programs receiving assistance under this Act

8 shall not exceed $100,000,000 of which—

9 (1) costs shall not exceed $82,000,000 for the

10 Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered

11 Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin

12 through fiscal year 2005; and

13 (2) costs shall not exceed $18,000,000 for the

14 San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program

15 through fiscal year 2007.

16 The amounts set forth in this subsection shall be adjusted

17 by the Secretary for inflation in each fiscal year beginning

18 after the enactment of this Act.

19 (c) NON-FEDERAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO CAPITAL

20 PROJECTS.—(1) The Secretary, acting through the Bu21 reau of Reclamation, may accept contributed funds from

22 the Upper Division States, or political subdivisions or or23 ganizations with the Upper Division States, pursuant to

24 agreements that provide for the contributions to be used

25 for capital projects costs. Such funds may be expended
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1 as if appropriated for such purposes. Such non-Federal

2 contributions shall not exceed $17,000,000.

3 (2) In addition to the contribution described in para4 graph (1), the Secretary of Energy, acting through the

5 Western Area Power Administration, and the Secretary of

6 the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation,

7 may utilize power revenues collected pursuant to the Colo8 rado River Storage Project Act to carry out the purposes

9 of section 3(c) of this Act. Such funds shall be treated

10 as reimbursable costs assigned to power for repayment

11 under section 5 of the Colorado River Storage Project Act.

12 This additional contribution shall not exceed $17,000,000.

13 Such funds shall be considered a non-Federal contribution

14 for the purposes of this Act.

15 (3) The additional funding provided pursuant to

16 paragraph (2) may be provided through loans from the

17 Colorado Water Conservation Board Construction Fund

18 (37–60–121 C.R.S.) to the Western Area Power Adminis19 tration in lieu of funds which would otherwise be collected

20 from power revenues and used for storage project repay21 ments. The Western Area Power Administration is author22 ized to repay such loan or loans from power revenues col23 lected beginning in fiscal year 2012, subject to an agree24 ment between the Colorado Water Conservation Board,

25 the Western Area Power Administration, and the Bureau
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1 of Reclamation. The agreement and any future loan con2 tracts that may be entered into by the Colorado Water

3 Conservation Board, the Western Area Power Administra4 tion, and the Bureau of Reclamation shall be negotiated

5 in consultation with Salt Lake City Area Integrated

6 Projects Firm Power Contractors. The agreement and

7 loan contracts shall include provisions designed to mini8 mize impacts on electrical power rates and shall ensure

9 that loan repayment to the Colorado Water Conservation

10 Board, including principal and interest, is completed no

11 later than September 30, 2057. The Western Area Power

12 Administration is authorized to include in power rates

13 such sums as are necessary to carry out this paragraph

14 and paragraph (2).

15 (4) All contributions made pursuant to this sub16 section shall be in addition to the cost of replacement

17 power purchased due to modifying the operation of the

18 Colorado River Storage Project and the capital cost of

19 water from Wolford Mountain Reservoir in Colorado. Such

20 costs shall be considered as non-Federal contributions, not

21 to exceed $20,000,000.

22 (d) BASE FUNDING.—(1) Beginning in the first fiscal

23 year commencing after the date of enactment of this Act,

24 the Secretary may utilize power revenues collected pursu25 ant to the Colorado River Storage Project Act for the an-
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1 nual base funding contributions to the Recovery Imple2 mentation Programs by the Bureau of Reclamation. Such

3 funding shall be treated as nonreimbursable and as having

4 been repaid and returned to the general fund of the Treas5 ury as costs assigned to power for repayment under sec6 tion 5 of the Colorado River Storage Project Act.

7 (2) For the Recovery Implementation Program for

8 the Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River

9 Basin, the contributions to base funding referred to in

10 paragraph (1) shall not exceed $4,000,000 per year. For

11 the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program,

12 such contributions shall not exceed $2,000,000 per year.

13 The Secretary shall adjust such amounts for inflation in

14 fiscal years commencing after the enactment of this Act.

15 The utilization of power revenues for annual base funding

16 shall cease after the fiscal year 2011, unless reauthorized

17 by Congress; except that power revenues may continue to

18 be utilized to fund the operation and maintenance of cap19 ital projects and monitoring. No later than the end of fis20 cal year 2008, the Secretary shall submit a report on the

21 utilization of power revenues to the appropriate Commit22 tees of the United States Senate and the House of Rep23 resentatives. The Secretary shall also make a rec24 ommendation in such report regarding the need for contin25 ued funding after fiscal year 2011 that may be required
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1 to fulfill the goals of the Recovery Implementation Pro2 grams. The Western Area Power Administration and the

3 Bureau of Reclamation shall maintain sufficient revenues

4 in the Colorado River Basin Fund to meet their obligation

5 to provide base funding in accordance with this provision.

6 If the Western Area Power Administration and the Bu7 reau of Reclamation determine that the funds in the Colo8 rado River Basin Fund will not be sufficient to meet the

9 obligations of section 5(c)(1) of the Colorado River Stor10 age Project Act for a 3-year period, the Western Area

11 Power Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation

12 shall request appropriations to meet base funding obliga13 tions. Nothing in this Act shall otherwise modify or amend

14 existing agreements among participants regarding base

15 funding and depletion charges for the Recovery Implemen16 tation Programs.

17 (e) AUTHORITY TO RETAIN APPROPRIATED

18 FUNDS.—At the end of each fiscal year any unexpended

19 appropriated funds for capital projects under this Act

20 shall be retained for use in future fiscal years. Unex21 pended funds under this Act that are carried over shall

22 continue to be used to implement the capital projects need23 ed for the Recovery Implementation Programs.

24 (f) ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may

25 enter into agreements and contracts with Federal and
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1 non-Federal entities, acquire and transfer interests in

2 land, water, and facilities, and accept or give grants in

3 order to carry out the purposes of this Act.

4 (g) INDIAN TRUST ASSETS.—The Congress finds

5 that much of the potential water development in the San

6 Juan River Basin is for the benefit of Indian tribes and

7 most of the federally designated critical habitat for the

8 endangered fish species in the Basin is on Indian trust

9 lands. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to restrict

10 the Secretary, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation

11 and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, from funding activities

12 or capital projects in accordance with the Federal Govern13 ment’s Indian trust responsibility.

14 SEC. 4. EFFECT ON RECLAMATION LAW.

15 Construction of facilities and acquisition of land and

16 water interests under this Act shall not render these facili17 ties or land and water interests or associated processes

18 and procedures subject to the Reclamation Act of 1902

19 and Acts supplementary thereto and amendatory thereof.

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