I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3937 
To redesignate the facility of the Bureau of Reclamation located at Highway- 
155, Coulee Dam, WA 99116, as the ‘‘Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Washington 
Power Plant’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 24, 2019 
Mr. NEWHOUSE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To redesignate the facility of the Bureau of Reclamation 
located at Highway-155, Coulee Dam, WA 99116, as 
the ‘‘Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Washington Power Plant’’. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Both Nathaniel ‘‘Nat’’ Washington, Sr., 
and his son, Nat, Jr., direct descendants of the fam-
ily of President George Washington, were pioneers 
for the development of hydropower and strong pro-
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ponents of hydropower’s many benefits for Wash-
ington State and the Pacific Northwest. 
(2) In 1908, Nat Washington, Sr., left his 
home in Virginia and established a homestead along 
the Columbia River in the area of Grand Coulee, 
Washington. In 1916, he was elected Grant County 
prosecutor. 
(3) As the first president of the Columbia River 
Dam, Irrigation, and Power District, Nat Wash-
ington, Sr., played a key role in developing the con-
cept of, and securing the approval for, the construc-
tion of the Grand Coulee Dam. 
(4) In 1926, Nat Washington, Sr., fell victim to 
the power of the Columbia River when he was swept 
away in the current, losing his life while attempting 
to save his brother James from drowning. 
(5) Nat Washington, Jr., followed in his fa-
ther’s footsteps by serving as Grant County pros-
ecutor after earning his law degree at the University 
of Washington, where he was elected student body 
president at the University of Washington as an un-
dergraduate. 
(6) Nat Washington, Jr., served in the Wash-
ington State Legislature for 30 years and was in-
strumental in the development of several hydropower 
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projects across the region, as well as the Columbia 
Basin Project, which utilizes the Grand Coulee Dam 
to supply water for irrigation to 10,000 farms on 
671,000 acres of farmland in the Columbia Basin. 
(7) When the Third Power Plant was completed 
in 1980, Grand Coulee Dam became the largest hy-
dropower generating facility in the world. With a 
6,809 megawatt generating capacity, supplying an 
average of 21 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to 
11 States and Canada each year, Grand Coulee is 
the largest power station in the nation. 
(8) The vision, advocacy, and public service of 
Nat Washington, Sr., and his son, Nat, Jr., fun-
damentally transformed the Columbia Basin, Wash-
ington State, and the entire Pacific Northwest by se-
curing hydropower—a clean, affordable, and reliable 
source of energy—as the foundation of the region’s 
power system. 
SEC. 2. REDESIGNATION OF FACILITY. 
The facility of the Bureau of Reclamation located at 
Highway-155, Coulee Dam, WA 99116, known as the 
Third Powerplant, shall be known and designated as the 
‘‘Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Washington Power Plant’’. 
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SEC. 3. REFERENCES. 
Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, 
paper or other record of the United States to the facility 
referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a reference 
to the Nathaniel ‘‘Nat’’ Washington Power Plant. 
Æ 
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