IB 
Union Calendar No. 177 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1963 
[Report No. 113–249] 
To amend the Water Conservation and Utilization Act to authorize the devel-
opment of non-Federal hydropower and issuance of leases of power privi-
leges at projects constructed pursuant to the authority of the Water 
Conservation and Utilization Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 14, 2013 
Mr. DAINES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
OCTOBER 22, 2013 
Additional sponsors: Mr. TIPTON, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. CRAMER, and Mrs. 
LUMMIS 
OCTOBER 22, 2013 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 14, 2013] 
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A BILL 
To amend the Water Conservation and Utilization Act to 
authorize the development of non-Federal hydropower 
and issuance of leases of power privileges at projects 
constructed pursuant to the authority of the Water Con-
servation and Utilization Act, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bureau of Reclamation 
Conduit Hydropower Development Equity and Jobs Act’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT. 
Section 9 of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act authorizing con-
struction of water conservation and utilization projects in 
the Great Plains and arid semiarid areas of the United 
States’’, approved August 11, 1939 (16 U.S.C. 590z–7; com-
monly known as the ‘‘Water Conservation and Utilization 
Act’’), is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘In connection with’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘(a) In connection with’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the 
Secretary is authorized to enter into leases of power privi-
leges for electric power generation in connection with any 
project constructed under this Act, and shall have authority 
in addition to and alternative to any authority in existing 
laws relating to particular projects, including small conduit 
hydropower development, consistent with the terms of this 
Act, the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (43 U.S.C. 485h), 
and other Federal reclamation laws. 
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‘‘(c) All right, title, and interest to installed power fa-
cilities constructed by non-Federal entities pursuant to a 
lease of power privilege, and direct revenues derived there-
from, shall remain with the lessee unless otherwise required 
in subsection (d). 
‘‘(d) Lease of power privilege charges or fees under this 
section shall be credited to the facility from which those rev-
enues were derived. 
‘‘(e) When carrying out this section, the Secretary shall 
first offer the lease of power privilege to an irrigation dis-
trict or water users association operating the applicable 
transferred conduit, or to the irrigation district or water 
users association receiving water from the applicable re-
served conduit. The Secretary shall determine a reasonable 
timeframe for the irrigation district or water users associa-
tion to accept or reject a lease of power privilege offer. If 
the irrigation district or water users association elects not 
to accept a lease of power privilege offer under paragraph 
(1), the Secretary shall offer the lease of power privilege 
to other parties in accordance with this section. 
‘‘(f) The Bureau of Reclamation shall apply its cat-
egorical exclusion process under the National Environ-
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to small 
conduit hydropower development under this section, exclud-
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and other interests of the United States and the project or 
division involved. 
‘‘(i) Nothing in this section shall alter or affect any 
agreements in effect on the date of the enactment of the Bu-
reau of Reclamation Conduit Hydropower Development Eq-
uity and Jobs Act for the development of conduit hydro-
power projects or disposition of revenues. 
‘‘(j) In this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘conduit’ means any Bureau of 
Reclamation tunnel, canal, pipeline, aqueduct, flume, 
ditch, or similar manmade water conveyance that is 
operated for the distribution of water for agricultural, 
municipal, or industrial consumption and not pri-
marily for the generation of electricity. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘irrigation district’ means any ir-
rigation, water conservation or conservancy, multi- 
county water conservation or conservancy district, or 
any separate public entity composed of two or more 
such districts and jointly exercising powers of its 
member districts. 
‘‘(3) The term ‘reserved conduit’ means any con-
duit that is included in project works the care, oper-
ation, and maintenance of which has been reserved by 
the Secretary, through the Commissioner of the Bu-
reau of Reclamation. 
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‘‘(4) The term ‘transferred conduit’ means any 
conduit that is included in project works the care, op-
eration, and maintenance of which has been trans-
ferred to a legally organized water users association 
or irrigation district. 
‘‘(5) The term ‘small conduit hydropower’ means 
a facility capable of producing 5 megawatts or less of 
electric capacity.’’. 
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Union Calendar No. 177 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 1963 
[Report No. 113–249] 
A BILL 
To amend the Water Conservation and Utilization 
Act to authorize the development of non-Federal 
hydropower and issuance of leases of power privi-
leges at projects constructed pursuant to the au-
thority of the Water Conservation and Utilization 
Act, and for other purposes. 
OCTOBER 22, 2013 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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