H. R. 678 
One Hundred Thirteenth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE FIRST SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and thirteen 
An Act 
To authorize all Bureau of Reclamation conduit facilities for hydropower development 
under Federal Reclamation law, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bureau of Reclamation Small 
Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act’’. 
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION. 
Section 9(c) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (43 U.S.C. 
485h(c)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary is authorized to enter into 
contracts to furnish water’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘(1) The Secretary is authorized to enter into contracts 
to furnish water’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘(1) shall’’ and inserting ‘‘(A) shall’’; 
(3) by striking ‘‘(2) shall’’ and inserting ‘‘(B) shall’’; 
(4) by striking ‘‘respecting the terms of sales of electric 
power and leases of power privileges shall be in addition and 
alternative to any authority in existing laws relating to par-
ticular projects’’ and inserting ‘‘respecting the sales of electric 
power and leases of power privileges shall be an authorization 
in addition to and alternative to any authority in existing 
laws related to particular projects, including small conduit 
hydropower development’’; and 
(5) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(2)(A) When carrying out this subsection, the Sec-
retary shall first offer the lease of power privilege to an 
irrigation district or water users association operating the 
applicable transferred conduit, or to the irrigation district 
or water users association receiving water from the 
applicable reserved conduit. The Secretary shall determine 
a reasonable time frame for the irrigation district or water 
users association to accept or reject a lease of power privi-
lege offer for a small conduit hydropower project. 
‘‘(B) If the irrigation district or water users association 
elects not accept a lease of power privilege offer under 
subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall offer the lease of 
power privilege to other parties in accordance with this 
subsection. 
‘‘(3) The Bureau of Reclamation shall apply its categor-
ical exclusion process under the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to small conduit
H. R. 678—2 
hydropower development under this subsection, excluding 
siting of associated transmission facilities on Federal lands. 
‘‘(4) The Power Resources Office of the Bureau of Rec-
lamation shall be the lead office of small conduit hydro-
power policy and procedure-setting activities conducted 
under this subsection. 
‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection shall obligate the 
Western Area Power Administration, the Bonneville Power 
Administration, or the Southwestern Power Administration 
to purchase or market any of the power produced by the 
facilities covered under this subsection and none of the 
costs associated with production or delivery of such power 
shall be assigned to project purposes for inclusion in project 
rates. 
‘‘(6) Nothing in this subsection shall alter or impede 
the delivery and management of water by Bureau of Rec-
lamation facilities, as water used for conduit hydropower 
generation shall be deemed incidental to use of water for 
the original project purposes. Lease of power privilege shall 
be made only when, in the judgment of the Secretary, 
the exercise of the lease will not be incompatible with 
the purposes of the project or division involved, nor shall 
it create any unmitigated financial or physical impacts 
to the project or division involved. The Secretary shall 
notify and consult with the irrigation district or water 
users association operating the transferred conduit before 
offering the lease of power privilege and shall prescribe 
terms and conditions that will adequately protect the plan-
ning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and 
other interests of the United States and the project or 
division involved. 
‘‘(7) Nothing in this subsection shall alter or affect 
any existing agreements for the development of conduit 
hydropower projects or disposition of revenues. 
‘‘(8) Nothing in this subsection shall alter or affect 
any existing preliminary permit, license, or exemption 
issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
under Part I of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 792 
et seq.) or any project for which an application has been 
filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as 
of the date of the enactment of the Bureau of Reclamation 
Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs 
Act. 
‘‘(9) In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) CONDUIT.—The term ‘conduit’ means any 
Bureau of Reclamation tunnel, canal, pipeline, aque-
duct, flume, ditch, or similar manmade water convey-
ance that is operated for the distribution of water 
for agricultural, municipal, or industrial consumption 
and not primarily for the generation of electricity. 
‘‘(B) IRRIGATION
DISTRICT.—The term ‘irrigation 
district’ means any irrigation, water conservation or 
conservancy, multicounty water conservation or conser-
vancy district, or any separate public entity composed 
of two or more such districts and jointly exercising 
powers of its member districts.
H. R. 678—3 
‘‘(C) RESERVED CONDUIT.—The term ‘reserved con-
duit’ means any conduit that is included in project 
works the care, operation, and maintenance of which 
has been reserved by the Secretary, through the 
Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation. 
‘‘(D) TRANSFERRED
CONDUIT.—The term ‘trans-
ferred conduit’ means any conduit that is included 
in project works the care, operation, and maintenance 
of which has been transferred to a legally organized 
water users association or irrigation district. 
‘‘(E) SMALL
CONDUIT
HYDROPOWER.—The term 
‘small conduit hydropower’ means a facility capable 
of producing 5 megawatts or less of electric capacity.’’. 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.