II 

Calendar No. 68 

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, Mr. CRAPO, and Mr. 

FLAKE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

MAY 13, 2013 

Reported by Mr. WYDEN, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION. 

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

3 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)) is amended— 

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

5 enter into contracts to furnish water’’ and inserting 

6 the following: 

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

8 contracts to furnish water’’; 

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

10 shall’’; 

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

12 shall’’; 

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

14 electric power and leases of power privileges shall be 

15 in addition and alternative to any authority in exist16 ing laws relating to particular projects’’ and insert17 ing ‘‘respecting the sales of electric power and leases 

18 of power privileges shall be an authorization in addi19 tion to and alternative to any authority in existing 

20 laws related to particular projects, including small 

21 conduit hydropower development’’; and 

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

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

24 the Secretary shall first offer the lease of power 

25 privilege to an irrigation district or water users 

26 association operating the applicable transferred 


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1 work, or to the irrigation district or water users 

2 association receiving water from the applicable 

3 reserved work. The Secretary shall determine a 

4 reasonable time frame for the irrigation district 

5 or water users association to accept or reject a 

6 lease of power privilege offer. 

7 ‘‘(3) The National Environmental Policy 

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

9 apply to small conduit hydropower development, 

10 excluding siting of associated transmission on 

11 Federal lands, under this subsection. 

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

13 Bureau of Reclamation shall be the lead office 

14 of small conduit hydropower activities con15 ducted under this subsection. 

16 ‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection shall obli17 gate the Western Area Power Administration, 

18 the Bonneville Power Administration, or the 

19 Southwestern Power Administration to pur20 chase or market any of the power produced by 

21 the facilities covered under this subsection and 

22 none of the costs associated with production or 

23 delivery of such power shall be assigned to 

24 project purposes for inclusion in project rates. 


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

2 or impede the delivery and management of 

3 water by Bureau of Reclamation facilities, as 

4 water used for conduit hydropower generation 

5 shall be deemed incidental to use of water for 

6 the original project purposes. Lease of power 

7 privilege shall be made only when, in the judg8 ment of the Secretary, the exercise of the lease 

9 will not be incompatible with the purposes of 

10 the project or division involved, nor shall it cre11 ate any unmitigated financial or physical im12 pacts to the project or division involved, and 

13 shall be on such terms and conditions as in the 

14 judgment of the Secretary in consultation with 

15 the appropriate irrigation district or water 

16 users association, will adequately protect the 

17 planning, design, construction, operation, main18 tenance, and other interests of the United 

19 States and the project or division involved. 

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

21 or affect any existing agreements for the devel22 opment of conduit hydropower projects or dis23 position of revenues. 

24 ‘‘(8) In this subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(A) CONDUIT.—The term ‘conduit’ 

2 means any Bureau of Reclamation tunnel, 

3 canal, pipeline, aqueduct, flume, ditch, or 

4 similar manmade water conveyance that is 

5 operated for the distribution of water for 

6 agricultural, municipal, or industrial con7 sumption and not primarily for the genera8 tion of electricity. 

9 ‘‘(B) IRRIGATION DISTRICT.—The 

10 term ‘irrigation district’ means any irriga11 tion, water conservation, multicounty water 

12 conservation district, or any separate pub13 lic entity composed of two or more such 

14 districts and jointly exercising powers of 

15 its member districts. 

16 ‘‘(C) RESERVED WORK.—The term 

17 ‘reserved work’ means any conduit that is 

18 included in project works the care, oper19 ation, and maintenance of which has been 

20 reserved by the Secretary, through the 

21 Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclama22 tion. 

23 ‘‘(D) TRANSFERRED WORK.—The 

24 term ‘transferred work’ means any conduit 

25 that is included in project works the care, 


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1 operation, and maintenance of which has 

2 been transferred to a legally organized 

3 water users association or irrigation dis4 trict. 

5 ‘‘(E) SMALL CONDUIT HYDRO6 POWER.—The term ‘small conduit hydro7 power’ means a facility capable of pro8 ducing 5 megawatts or less of electric ca9 pacity.’’. 

10 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

11 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bureau of Reclamation 

12 Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs 

13 Act’’. 

14 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION. 

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

16 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)) is amended— 

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

18 enter into contracts to furnish water’’ and inserting 

19 the following: 

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

21 contracts to furnish water’’; 

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

23 shall’’; 

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

25 shall’’; 


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

2 electric power and leases of power privileges shall be 

3 in addition and alternative to any authority in exist4 ing laws relating to particular projects’’ and insert5 ing ‘‘respecting the sales of electric power and leases 

6 of power privileges shall be an authorization in addi7 tion to and alternative to any authority in existing 

8 laws related to particular projects, including small 

9 conduit hydropower development’’; and 

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

11 ‘‘(2)(A) When carrying out this subsection, the 

12 Secretary shall first offer the lease of power privilege 

13 to an irrigation district or water users association 

14 operating the applicable transferred conduit, or to the 

15 irrigation district or water users association receiving 

16 water from the applicable reserved conduit. The Sec17 retary shall determine a reasonable time frame for the 

18 irrigation district or water users association to accept 

19 or reject a lease of power privilege offer for a small 

20 conduit hydropower project. 

21 ‘‘(B) If the irrigation district or water users as22 sociation elects not accept a lease of power privilege 

23 offer under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall 

24 offer the lease of power privilege to other parties in 

25 accordance with this subsection. 


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1 ‘‘(3) The Bureau of Reclamation shall apply its 

2 categorical exclusion process under the National En3 vironmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 

4 seq.) to small conduit hydropower development under 

5 this subsection, excluding siting of associated trans6 mission facilities on Federal lands. 

7 ‘‘(4) The Power Resources Office of the Bureau 

8 of Reclamation shall be the lead office of small con9 duit hydropower policy and procedure-setting activi10 ties conducted under this subsection. 

11 ‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection shall obligate the 

12 Western Area Power Administration, the Bonneville 

13 Power Administration, or the Southwestern Power 

14 Administration to purchase or market any of the 

15 power produced by the facilities covered under this 

16 subsection and none of the costs associated with pro17 duction or delivery of such power shall be assigned to 

18 project purposes for inclusion in project rates. 

19 ‘‘(6) Nothing in this subsection shall alter or im20 pede the delivery and management of water by Bu21 reau of Reclamation facilities, as water used for con22 duit hydropower generation shall be deemed inci23 dental to use of water for the original project pur24 poses. Lease of power privilege shall be made only 

25 when, in the judgment of the Secretary, the exercise 


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1 of the lease will not be incompatible with the purposes 

2 of the project or division involved, nor shall it create 

3 any unmitigated financial or physical impacts to the 

4 project or division involved. The Secretary shall no5 tify and consult with the irrigation district or water 

6 users association operating the transferred conduit be7 fore offering the lease of power privilege and shall 

8 prescribe terms and conditions that will adequately 

9 protect the planning, design, construction, operation, 

10 maintenance, and other interests of the United States 

11 and the project or division involved. 

12 ‘‘(7) Nothing in this subsection shall alter or af13 fect any existing agreements for the development of 

14 conduit hydropower projects or disposition of reve15 nues. 

16 ‘‘(8) Nothing in this subsection shall alter or af17 fect any existing preliminary permit, license, or ex18 emption issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory 

19 Commission under Part I of the Federal Power Act 

20 (16 U.S.C. 792 et seq.) or any project for which an 

21 application has been filed with the Federal Energy 

22 Regulatory Commission as of the date of the enact23 ment of the Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit 

24 Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act. 

25 ‘‘(9) In this subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(A) CONDUIT.—The term ‘conduit’ means 

2 any Bureau of Reclamation tunnel, canal, pipe3 line, aqueduct, flume, ditch, or similar manmade 

4 water conveyance that is operated for the dis5 tribution of water for agricultural, municipal, or 

6 industrial consumption and not primarily for 

7 the generation of electricity. 

8 ‘‘(B) IRRIGATION DISTRICT.—The term ‘ir9 rigation district’ means any irrigation, water 

10 conservation or conservancy, multicounty water 

11 conservation or conservancy district, or any sep12 arate public entity composed of two or more such 

13 districts and jointly exercising powers of its 

14 member districts. 

15 ‘‘(C) RESERVED CONDUIT.—The term ‘re16 served conduit’ means any conduit that is in17 cluded in project works the care, operation, and 

18 maintenance of which has been reserved by the 

19 Secretary, through the Commissioner of the Bu20 reau of Reclamation. 

21 ‘‘(D) TRANSFERRED CONDUIT.—The term 

22 ‘transferred conduit’ means any conduit that is 

23 included in project works the care, operation, 

24 and maintenance of which has been transferred 


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1 to a legally organized water users association or 

2 irrigation district. 

3 ‘‘(E) SMALL CONDUIT HYDROPOWER.—The 

4 term ‘small conduit hydropower’ means a facil5 ity capable of producing 5 megawatts or less of 

6 electric capacity.’’. 


TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 68 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 306 

A BILL 

To authorize all Bureau of Reclamation conduit faeral Reclamation law, and for other purposes. cilities for hydropower development under FedMAY 13, 2013 

Reported with an amendment 


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