I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 970
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to the Perkins
County Rural Water System, Inc., for the construction of water supply
facilities in Perkins County, South Dakota.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 3, 1999
Mr. THUNE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Resources
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide assist-
ance to the Perkins County Rural Water System, Inc.,
for the construction of water supply facilities in Perkins
County, South Dakota.
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 ‘‘Perkins County Rural
Water System Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) in 1977, the North Dakota State Legisla-
ture authorized and directed the State Water Com-
mission to conduct the Southwest Area Water Sup-
ply Study, which included water service to a portion
of Perkins County, South Dakota;
(2) amendments made by the Garrison Diver-
sion Unit Reformulation Act of 1986 (Public Law
101–294) authorized the Southwest Pipeline project
as an eligible project for Federal cost share partici-
pation; and
(3) the Perkins County Rural Water System
has continued to be recognized by the State of North
Dakota, the Southwest Water Authority, the North
Dakota Water Commission, the Department of the
Interior, and Congress as a component of the South-
west Pipeline Project.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) CORPORATION.—The term ‘‘Corporation’’
means the Perkins County Rural Water System,
Inc., a nonprofit corporation established and oper-
ated under the laws of the State of South Dakota
substantially in accordance with the feasibility study.
(2) FEASIBILITY STUDY.—The term ‘‘feasibility
study’’ means the study entitled ‘‘Feasibility Study
SEC. 4. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR WATER SUPPLY SYS-
TEM.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make grants
to the Corporation for the Federal share of the costs of—
(1) the planning and construction of the water
supply system; and
(2) repairs to existing public water distribution
systems to ensure conservation of the resources and
to make the systems functional under the new water
supply system.
(b) LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF CONSTRUC-
TION FUNDS.—The Secretary shall not obligate funds for
the construction of the water supply system until—
(1) the requirements of the National Environ-
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.)
are met with respect to the water supply system;
and
(2) a final engineering report and a plan for a
water conservation program have been prepared and
submitted to Congress for a period of not less than
90 days before the commencement of construction of
the system.
SEC. 5. MITIGATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE LOSSES.
Mitigation of fish and wildlife losses incurred as a
result of the construction and operation of the water sup-
ply system shall be on an acre-for-acre basis, based on eco-
logical equivalency, concurrent with project construction,
as provided in the feasibility study.
SEC. 6. USE OF PICK-SLOAN POWER.
(a) IN GENERAL.—From power designated for future
irrigation and drainage pumping for the Pick-Sloan Mis-
souri River Basin Program, the Western Area Power Ad-
ministration shall make available the capacity and energy
required to meet the pumping and incidental operational
requirements of the water supply system during the period
beginning May 1 and ending October 31 of each year.
(b) CONDITIONS.—The capacity and energy described
in subsection (a) shall be made available on the following
conditions:
(1) The Corporation shall be operated on a not-
for-profit basis.
(2) The Corporation may contract to purchase
its entire electric service requirements for the water
supply system, including the capacity and energy
made available under subsection (a), from a quali-
fied preference power supplier that itself purchases
power from the Western Area Power Administration.
(3) The rate schedule applicable to the capacity
and energy made available under subsection (a) shall
be the firm power rate schedule of the Pick-Sloan
Eastern Division of the Western Area Power Admin-
istration in effect when the power is delivered by the
Administration.
(4) It shall be agreed by contract among—
(A) the Western Area Power Administra-
tion;
(B) the power supplier with which the Cor-
poration contracts under paragraph (2);
(C) the power supplier of the entity de-
scribed in subparagraph (B); and
(D) the Corporation;
that in the case of the capacity and energy made
available under subsection (a), the benefit of the
rate schedule described in paragraph (3) shall be
passed through to the Corporation, except that the
power supplier of the Corporation shall not be pre-
cluded from including, in the charges of the supplier
to the water system for the electric service, the other
usual and customary charges of the supplier.
SEC. 7. FEDERAL SHARE.
The Federal share under section 4 shall be 75 percent
of—
(1) the amount allocated in the total project
construction budget for the planning and construc-
tion of the water supply system under section 4; and
(2) such sums as are necessary to defray in-
creases in development costs reflected in appropriate
engineering cost indices after March 1, 1995.
SEC. 8. NON-FEDERAL SHARE.
The non-Federal share under section 4 shall be 25
percent of—
(1) the amount allocated in the total project
construction budget for the planning and construc-
tion of the water supply system under section 4; and
(2) such sums as are necessary to defray in-
creases in development costs reflected in appropriate
engineering cost indices after March 1, 1995.
SEC. 9. CONSTRUCTION OVERSIGHT.
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—At the request of the Corpora-
tion, the Secretary may provide to the Corporation assist-
ance in overseeing matters relating to construction of the
water supply system.
(b) PROJECT OVERSIGHT ADMINISTRATION.—The
amount of funds used by the Secretary for planning and
construction of the water supply system may not exceed
an amount equal to 3 percent of the amount provided in
the total project construction budget for the portion of the
project to be constructed in Perkins County, South Da-
kota.
SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary—
(1) $15,000,000 for the planning and construc-
tion of the water supply system under section 4; and
(2) such sums as are necessary to defray in-
creases in development costs reflected in appropriate
engineering cost indices after March 1, 1995.
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