H. R. 2348
One Hundred Sixth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand
An Act
To authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to provide cost sharing for the endangered
fish recovery implementation programs for the Upper Colorado and San Juan
River Basins.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to authorize and provide funding
for the Bureau of Reclamation to continue the implementation
of the endangered fish recovery implementation programs for the
Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins in order to accomplish
the objectives of these programs within a currently established
time schedule.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘Recovery Implementation Programs’’ means
the intergovernmental programs established pursuant to the
1988 Cooperative Agreement to implement the Recovery
Implementation Program for the Endangered Fish Species in
the Upper Colorado River dated September 29, 1987, and the
1992 Cooperative Agreement to implement the San Juan River
Recovery Implementation Program dated October 21, 1992, and
as they may be amended by the parties thereto.
(2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the
Interior.
(3) The term ‘‘Upper Division States’’ means the States
of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
(4) The term ‘‘Colorado River Storage Project’’ or ‘‘storage
project’’ means those dams, reservoirs, power plants, and other
appurtenant project facilities and features authorized by and
constructed in accordance with the Colorado River Storage
Project Act (43 U.S.C. 620 et seq.).
(5) The term ‘‘capital projects’’ means planning, design,
permitting or other compliance, pre-construction activities,
construction, construction management, and replacement of
facilities, and the acquisition of interests in land or water,
as necessary to carry out the Recovery Implementation Pro-
grams.
(6) The term ‘‘facilities’’ includes facilities for the genetic
conservation or propagation of the endangered fishes, those
for the restoration of floodplain habitat or fish passage, those
for control or supply of instream flows, and those for the
removal or translocation of nonnative fishes.
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(7) The term ‘‘interests in land and water’’ includes, but
is not limited to, long-term leases and easements, and long-
term enforcement, or other agreements protecting instream
flows.
(8) The term ‘‘base funding’’ means funding for operation
and maintenance of capital projects, implementation of recovery
actions other than capital projects, monitoring and research
to evaluate the need for or effectiveness of any recovery action,
and program management, as necessary to carry out the
Recovery Implementation Programs. Base funding also includes
annual funding provided under the terms of the 1988 Coopera-
tive Agreement and the 1992 Cooperative Agreement.
(9) The term ‘‘recovery actions other than capital projects’’
includes short-term leases and agreements for interests in land,
water, and facilities; the reintroduction or augmentation of
endangered fish stocks; and the removal, translocation, or other
control of nonnative fishes.
(10) The term ‘‘depletion charge’’ means a one-time con-
tribution in dollars per acre-foot to be paid to the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service based on the average annual
new depletion by each project.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION TO FUND RECOVERY PROGRAMS.
(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR FEDERAL PARTICI-
PATION IN CAPITAL PROJECTS.—(1) There is hereby authorized to
be appropriated to the Secretary, $46,000,000 to undertake capital
projects to carry out the purposes of this Act. Such funds shall
be considered a nonreimbursable Federal expenditure.
(2) The authority of the Secretary, acting through the Bureau
of Reclamation, under this or any other provision of law to imple-
ment capital projects for the Recovery Implementation Program
for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin
shall expire in fiscal year 2005 unless reauthorized by an Act
of Congress.
(3) The authority of the Secretary to implement the capital
projects for the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation
Program shall expire in fiscal year 2007 unless reauthorized by
an Act of Congress.
(b) COST OF CAPITAL PROJECTS.—The total costs of the capital
projects undertaken for the Recovery Implementation Programs
receiving assistance under this Act shall not exceed $100,000,000
of which—
(1) costs shall not exceed $82,000,000 for the Recovery
Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the
Upper Colorado River Basin through fiscal year 2005; and
(2) costs shall not exceed $18,000,000 for the San Juan
River Recovery Implementation Program through fiscal year
2007.
The amounts set forth in this subsection shall be adjusted by
the Secretary for inflation in each fiscal year beginning after the
enactment of this Act.
(c) NON-FEDERAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO CAPITAL PROJECTS.—(1)
The Secretary, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation, may
accept contributed funds from the Upper Division States, or political
subdivisions or organizations with the Upper Division States, pursu-
ant to agreements that provide for the contributions to be used
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for capital projects costs. Such non-Federal contributions shall not
exceed $17,000,000.
(2) In addition to the contribution described in paragraph (1),
the Secretary of Energy, acting through the Western Area Power
Administration, and the Secretary of the Interior, acting through
the Bureau of Reclamation, may utilize power revenues collected
pursuant to the Colorado River Storage Project Act to carry out
the purposes of this subsection. Such funds shall be treated as
reimbursable costs assigned to power for repayment under section
5 of the Colorado River Storage Project Act. This additional con-
tribution shall not exceed $17,000,000. Such funds shall be consid-
ered a non-Federal contribution for the purposes of this Act. The
funding authorized by this paragraph over any 2-fiscal-year period
shall be made available in amounts equal to the contributions
for the same 2-fiscal-year period made by the Upper Division States
pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) The additional funding provided pursuant to paragraph
(2) may be provided through loans from the Colorado Water Con-
servation Board Construction Fund (37–60–121 C.R.S.) to the
Western Area Power Administration in lieu of funds which would
otherwise be collected from power revenues and used for storage
project repayments. The Western Area Power Administration is
authorized to repay such loan or loans from power revenues col-
lected beginning in fiscal year 2012, subject to an agreement
between the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Western Area
Power Administration, and the Bureau of Reclamation. The agree-
ment and any future loan contracts that may be entered into
by the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Western Area Power
Administration, and the Bureau of Reclamation shall be negotiated
in consultation with Salt Lake City Area Integrated Projects Firm
Power Contractors. The agreement and loan contracts shall include
provisions designed to minimize impacts on electrical power rates
and shall ensure that loan repayment to the Colorado Water Con-
servation Board, including principal and interest, is completed no
later than September 30, 2057. The Western Area Power Adminis-
tration is authorized to include in power rates such sums as are
necessary to carry out this paragraph and paragraph (2).
(4) All contributions made pursuant to this subsection shall
be in addition to the cost of replacement power purchased due
to modifying the operation of the Colorado River Storage Project
and the capital cost of water from Wolford Mountain Reservoir
in Colorado. Such costs shall be considered as non-Federal contribu-
tions, not to exceed $20,000,000.
(d) BASE FUNDING.—(1) Beginning in the first fiscal year com-
mencing after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
may utilize power revenues collected pursuant to the Colorado
River Storage Project Act for the annual base funding contributions
to the Recovery Implementation Programs by the Bureau of Rec-
lamation. Such funding shall be treated as nonreimbursable and
as having been repaid and returned to the general fund of the
Treasury as costs assigned to power for repayment under section
5 of the Colorado River Storage Project Act.
(2) For the Recovery Implementation Program for the Endan-
gered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin, the contribu-
tions to base funding referred to in paragraph (1) shall not exceed
$4,000,000 per year. For the San Juan River Recovery Implementa-
tion Program, such contributions shall not exceed $2,000,000 per
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year. The Secretary shall adjust such amounts for inflation in
fiscal years commencing after the enactment of this Act. The utiliza-
tion of power revenues for annual base funding shall cease after
the fiscal year 2011, unless reauthorized by Congress; except that
power revenues may continue to be utilized to fund the operation
and maintenance of capital projects and monitoring. No later than
the end of fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall submit a report
on the utilization of power revenues for base funding to the appro-
priate Committees of the United States Senate and the House
of Representatives. The Secretary shall also make a recommenda-
tion in such report regarding the need for continued base funding
after fiscal year 2011 that may be required to fulfill the goals
of the Recovery Implementation Programs. Nothing in this Act
shall otherwise modify or amend existing agreements among partici-
pants regarding base funding and depletion charges for the Recovery
Implementation Programs.
(3) The Western Area Power Administration and the Bureau
of Reclamation shall maintain sufficient revenues in the Colorado
River Basin Fund to meet their obligation to provide base funding
in accordance with paragraph (2). If the Western Area Power
Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation determine that the
funds in the Colorado River Basin Fund will not be sufficient
to meet the obligations of section 5(c)(1) of the Colorado River
Storage Project Act for a 3-year period, the Western Area Power
Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation shall request appro-
priations to meet base funding obligations.
(e) AUTHORITY TO RETAIN APPROPRIATED FUNDS.—At the end
of each fiscal year any unexpended appropriated funds for capital
projects under this Act shall be retained for use in future fiscal
years. Unexpended funds under this Act that are carried over
shall continue to be used to implement the capital projects needed
for the Recovery Implementation Programs.
(f ) ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may enter into
agreements and contracts with Federal and non-Federal entities,
acquire and transfer interests in land, water, and facilities, and
accept or give grants in order to carry out the purposes of this
Act.
(g) INDIAN TRUST ASSETS.—The Congress finds that much of
the potential water development in the San Juan River Basin
and in the Duchesne River Basin (a subbasin of the Green River
in the Upper Colorado River Basin) is for the benefit of Indian
tribes and most of the federally designated critical habitat for
the endangered fish species in the San Juan River Basin is on
Indian trust lands, and 21⁄2 miles of critical habitat on the Duchesne
River is on Indian Trust Land. Nothing in this Act shall be con-
strued to restrict the Secretary, acting through the Bureau of Rec-
lamation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, from funding activities
or capital projects in accordance with the Federal Government’s
Indian trust responsibility.
(h) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—All authorities provided by
this section for the respective Recovery Implementation Program
shall terminate upon expiration of the current time period for
the respective Cooperative Agreement referenced in section 2(1)
unless, at least 1 year prior to such expiration, the time period
for the respective Cooperative Agreement is extended to conform
with this Act.
H. R. 2348—5
SEC. 4. EFFECT ON RECLAMATION LAW.
Specifically with regard to the acreage limitation provisions
of Federal reclamation law, any action taken pursuant to or in
furtherance of this title will not—
(1) be considered in determining whether a district as
defined in section 202(2) of the Reclamation Reform Act of
1982 (43 U.S.C. 390bb) has discharged its obligation to repay
the construction cost of project facilities used to make irrigation
water available for delivery to land in the district;
(2) serve as the basis for reinstating acreage limitation
provisions in a district that has completed payment of its
construction obligations; or
(3) serve as the basis for increasing the construction repay-
ment obligation of the district and thereby extending the period
during which the acreage limitation provisions will apply.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.