IIB 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2842 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 8, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

AN ACT 

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, 


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HR 2842 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs 

4 Act of 2012’’. 

5 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION. 

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

7 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)) is amended— 

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

9 enter into contracts to furnish water’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘(1) The Secretary is authorized to enter into con11 tracts to furnish water’’; 

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

13 shall’’; 

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

15 shall’’; 

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

17 electric power and leases of power privileges shall be 

18 in addition and alternative to any authority in exist19 ing laws relating to particular projects’’ and insert20 ing ‘‘respecting the sales of electric power and leases 

21 of power privileges shall be an authorization in addi22 tion to and alternative to any authority in existing 

23 laws related to particular projects, including small 

24 conduit hydropower development’’; and 

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


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1 ‘‘(2) When carrying out this subsection, the Secretary 

2 shall first offer the lease of power privilege to an irrigation 

3 district or water users association operating the applicable 

4 transferred work, or to the irrigation district or water 

5 users association receiving water from the applicable re6 served work. The Secretary shall determine a reasonable 

7 time frame for the irrigation district or water users asso8 ciation to accept or reject a lease of power privilege offer. 

9 ‘‘(3) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

10 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) shall not apply to small conduit 

11 hydropower development, excluding siting of associated 

12 transmission on Federal lands, under this subsection. 

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

14 Reclamation shall be the lead office of small conduit hy15 dropower policy and procedure-setting activities conducted 

16 under this subsection. 

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

18 Western Area Power Administration, the Bonneville 

19 Power Administration, or the Southwestern Power Admin20 istration to purchase or market any of the power produced 

21 by the facilities covered under this subsection and none 

22 of the costs associated with production or delivery of such 

23 power shall be assigned to project purposes for inclusion 

24 in project rates. 


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HR 2842 RFS

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

2 the delivery and management of water by Bureau of Rec3 lamation facilities, as water used for conduit hydropower 

4 generation shall be deemed incidental to use of water for 

5 the original project purposes. Lease of power privilege 

6 shall be made only when, in the judgment of the Secretary, 

7 the exercise of the lease will not be incompatible with the 

8 purposes of the project or division involved, nor shall it 

9 create any unmitigated financial or physical impacts to the 

10 project or division involved. The Secretary shall notify and 

11 consult with the irrigation district or legally organized 

12 water users association operating the transferred work in 

13 advance of offering the lease of power privilege and shall 

14 prescribe such terms and conditions that will adequately 

15 protect the planning, design, construction, operation, 

16 maintenance, and other interests of the United States and 

17 the project or division involved. 

18 ‘‘(7) Nothing in this subsection shall alter or affect 

19 any existing agreements for the development of conduit 

20 hydropower projects or disposition of revenues. 

21 ‘‘(8) In this subsection: 

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

23 Bureau of Reclamation tunnel, canal, pipeline, aque24 duct, flume, ditch, or similar manmade water con25 veyance that is operated for the distribution of water 


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1 for agricultural, municipal, or industrial consump2 tion and not primarily for the generation of elec3 tricity. 

4 ‘‘(B) IRRIGATION DISTRICT.—The term ‘irriga5 tion district’ means any irrigation, water conserva6 tion or conservancy district, multicounty water con7 servation or conservancy district, or any separate 

8 public entity composed of two or more such districts 

9 and jointly exercising powers of its member districts. 

10 ‘‘(C) RESERVED WORK.—The term ‘reserved 

11 work’ means any conduit that is included in project 

12 works the care, operation, and maintenance of which 

13 has been reserved by the Secretary, through the 

14 Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation. 

15 ‘‘(D) TRANSFERRED WORK.—The term ‘trans16 ferred work’ means any conduit that is included in 

17 project works the care, operation, and maintenance 

18 of which has been transferred to a legally organized 

19 water users association or irrigation district. 

20 ‘‘(E) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

21 the Secretary of the Interior. 

22 ‘‘(F) SMALL CONDUIT HYDROPOWER.—The 

23 term ‘small conduit hydropower’ means a facility caVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:34 Mar 08, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2842.RFS H2842

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1 pable of producing 1.5 megawatts or less of electric 

2 capacity.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 7, 

2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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