I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1963 
To amend the Water Conservation and Utilization Act to authorize the devel-
opment of non-Federal hydropower and issuance of leases of power privi-
leges at projects constructed pursuant to the authority of the Water 
Conservation and Utilization Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 14, 2013 
Mr. DAINES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Water Conservation and Utilization Act to 
authorize the development of non-Federal hydropower 
and issuance of leases of power privileges at projects 
constructed pursuant to the authority of the Water Con-
servation and Utilization Act, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Bureau of Reclamation 
Conduit Hydropower Development Equity and Jobs Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. AMENDMENT. 
Section 9 of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act authorizing 
construction of water conservation and utilization projects 
in the Great Plains and arid semiarid areas of the United 
States’’, approved August 11, 1939 (16 U.S.C. 590z–7; 
commonly known as the ‘‘Water Conservation and Utiliza-
tion Act’’), is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘In connection with’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘(a) In connection with’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘All right, title, and interest in 
the facilities provided for such municipal or miscella-
neous water supplies or surplus power and the reve-
nues derived therefrom shall be and remain in the 
United States.’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) The Secretary is authorized to enter into leases 
of power privileges for electric power generation in connec-
tion with any project constructed under this Act, and shall 
have authority in addition to and alternative to any au-
thority in existing laws related to particular projects, in-
cluding small conduit hydropower development, consistent 
with the terms of this Act, the Reclamation Project Act 
of 1939 (43 U.S.C. 485h), and other Federal reclamation 
laws. 
‘‘(c) When carrying out this section, the Secretary 
shall first offer the lease of power privilege to an irrigation 
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district or water users association operating the applicable 
transferred conduit, or to the irrigation district or water 
users association receiving water from the applicable re-
served conduit. The Secretary shall determine a reason-
able timeframe for the irrigation district or water users 
association to accept or reject a lease of power privilege 
offer. If the irrigation district or water users association 
elects not to accept a lease of power privilege offer under 
paragraph (1), the Secretary shall offer the lease of power 
privilege to other parties in accordance with this section. 
‘‘(d) The Bureau of Reclamation shall apply its cat-
egorical exclusion process under the National Environ-
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to 
small conduit hydropower development under this section, 
excluding siting of associated transmission facilities on 
Federal lands. 
‘‘(e) Nothing in this section shall obligate the West-
ern Area Power Administration or the Bonneville Power 
Administration to purchase or market any of the power 
produced by the facilities covered under this section and 
none of the costs associated with production or delivery 
of such power shall be assigned to project purposes for 
inclusion in project rates. 
‘‘(f) Nothing in this section shall alter or impede the 
delivery and management of water by Bureau of Reclama-
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tion facilities, as water used for conduit hydropower gen-
eration 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 pur-
poses of the project or division involved and shall not cre-
ate any unmitigated financial or physical impacts to the 
project or division involved. The Secretary shall notify and 
consult with the irrigation district or legally organized 
water users association operating the transferred conduit 
in advance of offering the lease of power privilege and 
shall prescribe such terms and conditions necessary to 
adequately protect the planning, design, construction, op-
eration, maintenance, and other interests of the United 
States and the project or division involved. 
‘‘(g) Nothing in this section shall alter or affect any 
agreements in effect on the date of the enactment of the 
Bureau of Reclamation Conduit Hydropower Development 
Equity and Jobs Act for the development of conduit hy-
dropower projects or disposition of revenues. 
‘‘(h) In this section: 
‘‘(1) CONDUIT.—The term ‘conduit’ means any 
Bureau of Reclamation tunnel, canal, pipeline, aque-
duct, flume, ditch, or similar manmade water con-
veyance that is operated for the distribution of water 
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