I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3834 
To direct the Secretary of Energy to make incentive payments to the owners 
or operators of qualified desalination facilities to partially offset the 
cost of electrical energy required to operate such facilities, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 25, 2004 
Mr. DAVIS of Florida (for himself, Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico, Mr. 
HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. SHAW, Mr. CASE, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE 
of Florida, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. 
ISSA, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. FILNER, Ms. ROS- 
LEHTINEN, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. MICA, Mrs. DAVIS of 
California, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. 
HUNTER, Mr. DOOLITTLE, and Mr. POMBO) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Energy to make incentive pay-
ments to the owners or operators of qualified desalination 
facilities to partially offset the cost of electrical energy 
required to operate such facilities, and for other pur-
poses. 
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 ‘‘Desalination Energy 
Assistance Act of 2004’’. 
SEC. 2. DESALINATED WATER PRODUCTION INCENTIVE 
PAYMENTS. 
(a) INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.—The Secretary of En-
ergy (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 
make incentive payments in an amount determined under 
subsection (e) to the owners or operators of qualified de-
salination facilities to partially offset the cost of electrical 
energy required to operate such facilities. 
(b) QUALIFIED DESALINATION FACILITY.—For pur-
poses of this section, the term ‘‘qualified desalination facil-
ity’’ means a facility that— 
(1) produces for sale to domestic customers 
desalinated seawater, brackish groundwater, or sur-
face water whose source water is greater than 1,000 
parts per million total dissolved solids; 
(2) is owned or operated by— 
(A) a State or any political subdivision, 
agency, authority, or instrumentality of a State; 
or 
(B) a corporation responsible for providing 
municipal water service pursuant to State law; 
and
(3) is first used to produce desalinated water 
during the 10-year period beginning on October 1 of 
the first full fiscal year occurring after the date of 
the enactment of this section. 
(c) AGREEMENT; DEADLINE.—The Secretary may 
not make any payment to the owner or operator of a quali-
fied desalination facility under this section, unless not 
later than the end of fiscal year 2015 the Secretary enters 
into a written agreement with the owner or operator to 
make such payment. 
(d) PAYMENT PERIOD.—The Secretary may make 
payments to the owner or operator of a qualified desalina-
tion facility under this section for a period not to exceed 
10 years— 
(1) beginning on the date on which the facility 
is first used to produce desalinated water; and 
(2) ending not later than September 30, 2015. 
(e) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Payments made by the Sec-
retary under this section to the owner or operator of 
any qualified desalination facility shall be based on 
the amount of desalinated water produced by the fa-
cility during the payment period described in sub-
section (d). For any facility, the amount of such 
payment shall be 62 cents for every thousand gallons
of desalinated water produced and sold, adjusted as 
provided in paragraph (2). 
(2) ADJUSTMENTS.—The amount of the pay-
ment made to any person under this subsection as 
provided in paragraph (1) shall be adjusted for infla-
tion for each fiscal year beginning after calendar 
year 2005 in the same manner as provided in the 
provisions of section 29(d)(2)(B) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 29(d)(2)(B)), ex-
cept that in applying such provisions the calendar 
year 2005 shall be substituted for calendar year 
1979. 
(f) APPLICATION.—The Secretary may not make a 
grant to the owner or operator of a qualified desalination 
facility under this section unless the facility submits an 
application to the Secretary in such form, at such time, 
and containing such information and assurances as the 
Secretary may require. 
(g) LIMITATION.—In any fiscal year not more than 
60 percent of the funds made available by the Secretary 
under this section shall be made available to the owners 
or operators of qualified desalination facilities that obtain 
source water directly from the sea, an estuary, or from 
in-bank extraction wells that are of seawater origin.
(h) BUDGET ACT COMPLIANCE.—The authority pro-
vided by this section may be exercised only in such 
amounts or to such extent as provided in advance in ap-
propriations Acts. 
(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized 
to 
be 
appropriated 
to 
the 
Secretary 
$200,000,000 to carry out this section for the period of 
fiscal years 2005 through 2015. 
Æ