II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 306 

To authorize all Bureau of Reclamation conduit facilities for hydropower 

development under Federal Reclamation law, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2013 

Mr. BARRASSO (for himself, Mr. RISCH, Mr. ENZI, and Mr. CRAPO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

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’’. 

7 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION. 

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

9 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)) is amended— 


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

2 enter into contracts to furnish water’’ and inserting 

3 the following: 

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

5 contracts to furnish water’’; 

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

7 shall’’; 

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

9 shall’’; 

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

11 electric power and leases of power privileges shall be 

12 in addition and alternative to any authority in exist13 ing laws relating to particular projects’’ and insert14 ing ‘‘respecting the sales of electric power and leases 

15 of power privileges shall be an authorization in addi16 tion to and alternative to any authority in existing 

17 laws related to particular projects, including small 

18 conduit hydropower development’’; and 

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

20 ‘‘(2) When carrying out this subsection, 

21 the Secretary shall first offer the lease of power 

22 privilege to an irrigation district or water users 

23 association operating the applicable transferred 

24 work, or to the irrigation district or water users 

25 association receiving water from the applicable 


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1 reserved work. The Secretary shall determine a 

2 reasonable time frame for the irrigation district 

3 or water users association to accept or reject a 

4 lease of power privilege offer. 

5 ‘‘(3) The National Environmental Policy 

6 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) shall not 

7 apply to small conduit hydropower development, 

8 excluding siting of associated transmission on 

9 Federal lands, under this subsection. 

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

11 Bureau of Reclamation shall be the lead office 

12 of small conduit hydropower activities con13 ducted under this subsection. 

14 ‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection shall obli15 gate the Western Area Power Administration, 

16 the Bonneville Power Administration, or the 

17 Southwestern Power Administration to pur18 chase or market any of the power produced by 

19 the facilities covered under this subsection and 

20 none of the costs associated with production or 

21 delivery of such power shall be assigned to 

22 project purposes for inclusion in project rates. 

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

24 or impede the delivery and management of 

25 water by Bureau of Reclamation facilities, as 


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1 water used for conduit hydropower generation 

2 shall be deemed incidental to use of water for 

3 the original project purposes. Lease of power 

4 privilege shall be made only when, in the judg5 ment of the Secretary, the exercise of the lease 

6 will not be incompatible with the purposes of 

7 the project or division involved, nor shall it cre8 ate any unmitigated financial or physical im9 pacts to the project or division involved, and 

10 shall be on such terms and conditions as in the 

11 judgment of the Secretary in consultation with 

12 the appropriate irrigation district or water 

13 users association, will adequately protect the 

14 planning, design, construction, operation, main15 tenance, and other interests of the United 

16 States and the project or division involved. 

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

18 or affect any existing agreements for the devel19 opment of conduit hydropower projects or dis20 position of revenues. 

21 ‘‘(8) In this subsection: 

22 ‘‘(A) CONDUIT.—The term ‘conduit’ 

23 means any Bureau of Reclamation tunnel, 

24 canal, pipeline, aqueduct, flume, ditch, or 

25 similar manmade water conveyance that is 


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1 operated for the distribution of water for 

2 agricultural, municipal, or industrial con3 sumption and not primarily for the genera4 tion of electricity. 

5 ‘‘(B) IRRIGATION DISTRICT.—The 

6 term ‘irrigation district’ means any irriga7 tion, water conservation, multicounty water 

8 conservation district, or any separate pub9 lic entity composed of two or more such 

10 districts and jointly exercising powers of 

11 its member districts. 

12 ‘‘(C) RESERVED WORK.—The term 

13 ‘reserved work’ means any conduit that is 

14 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 WORK.—The 

20 term ‘transferred work’ means any conduit 

21 that is included in project works the care, 

22 operation, and maintenance of which has 

23 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.’’. 

Æ 


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