I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3834 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to make incentive payments to the owners 

or operators of qualified desalination facilities to partially offset the 

cost of electrical energy required to operate such facilities, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2004 

Mr. DAVIS of Florida (for himself, Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico, Mr. 

HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. SHAW, Mr. CASE, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE

of Florida, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. 

ISSA, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. FILNER, Ms. ROSLEHTINEN, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. MICA, Mrs. DAVIS of 

California, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. 

HUNTER, Mr. DOOLITTLE, and Mr. POMBO) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to make incentive payments to the owners or operators of qualified desalination 

facilities to partially offset the cost of electrical energy 

required to operate such facilities, 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 ‘‘Desalination Energy 

3 Assistance Act of 2004’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DESALINATED WATER PRODUCTION INCENTIVE 

5 PAYMENTS. 

6 (a) INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.—The Secretary of En7 ergy (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 

8 make incentive payments in an amount determined under 

9 subsection (e) to the owners or operators of qualified de10 salination facilities to partially offset the cost of electrical 

11 energy required to operate such facilities. 

12 (b) QUALIFIED DESALINATION FACILITY.—For pur13 poses of this section, the term ‘‘qualified desalination facil14 ity’’ means a facility that— 

15 (1) produces for sale to domestic customers 

16 desalinated seawater, brackish groundwater, or sur17 face water whose source water is greater than 1,000 

18 parts per million total dissolved solids; 

19 (2) is owned or operated by— 

20 (A) a State or any political subdivision, 

21 agency, authority, or instrumentality of a State; 

22 or 

23 (B) a corporation responsible for providing 

24 municipal water service pursuant to State law; 

25 and 
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1 (3) is first used to produce desalinated water 

2 during the 10-year period beginning on October 1 of 

3 the first full fiscal year occurring after the date of 

4 the enactment of this section. 

5 (c) AGREEMENT; DEADLINE.—The Secretary may 

6 not make any payment to the owner or operator of a quali7 fied desalination facility under this section, unless not 

8 later than the end of fiscal year 2015 the Secretary enters 

9 into a written agreement with the owner or operator to 

10 make such payment. 

11 (d) PAYMENT PERIOD.—The Secretary may make 

12 payments to the owner or operator of a qualified desalina13 tion facility under this section for a period not to exceed 

14 10 years— 

15 (1) beginning on the date on which the facility 

16 is first used to produce desalinated water; and 

17 (2) ending not later than September 30, 2015. 

18 (e) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Payments made by the Sec20 retary under this section to the owner or operator of 

21 any qualified desalination facility shall be based on 

22 the amount of desalinated water produced by the fa23 cility during the payment period described in sub24 section (d). For any facility, the amount of such 

25 payment shall be 62 cents for every thousand gallons 
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1 of desalinated water produced and sold, adjusted as 

2 provided in paragraph (2). 

3 (2) ADJUSTMENTS.—The amount of the pay4 ment made to any person under this subsection as 

5 provided in paragraph (1) shall be adjusted for infla6 tion for each fiscal year beginning after calendar 

7 year 2005 in the same manner as provided in the 

8 provisions of section 29(d)(2)(B) of the Internal 

9 Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 29(d)(2)(B)), ex10 cept that in applying such provisions the calendar 

11 year 2005 shall be substituted for calendar year 

12 1979. 

13 (f) APPLICATION.—The Secretary may not make a 

14 grant to the owner or operator of a qualified desalination 

15 facility under this section unless the facility submits an 

16 application to the Secretary in such form, at such time, 

17 and containing such information and assurances as the 

18 Secretary may require. 

19 (g) LIMITATION.—In any fiscal year not more than 

20 60 percent of the funds made available by the Secretary 

21 under this section shall be made available to the owners 

22 or operators of qualified desalination facilities that obtain 

23 source water directly from the sea, an estuary, or from 

24 in-bank extraction wells that are of seawater origin. 
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1 (h) BUDGET ACT COMPLIANCE.—The authority pro2 vided by this section may be exercised only in such 

3 amounts or to such extent as provided in advance in ap4 propriations Acts. 

5 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

6 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 

7 $200,000,000 to carry out this section for the period of 

8 fiscal years 2005 through 2015. 

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