106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2348
AN ACT
To authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to provide cost
sharing for the endangered fish recovery implementation
programs for the Upper Colorado and San Juan River
Basins.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to authorize and provide
funding for the Bureau of Reclamation to continue the
implementation of the endangered fish recovery implemen-
tation programs for the Upper Colorado and San Juan
River Basins in order to accomplish the objectives of these
programs within a currently established time schedule.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘Recovery Implementation Pro-
grams’’ means the intergovernmental programs es-
tablished pursuant to the 1988 Cooperative Agree-
ment to implement the Recovery Implementation
Program for the Endangered Fish Species in the
Upper Colorado River dated September 29, 1987,
and the 1992 Cooperative Agreement to implement
the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Pro-
gram dated October 21, 1992, and as they may be
amended by the parties thereto.
(2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(3) The term ‘‘Upper Division States’’ means
the States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wy-
oming.
(4) The term ‘‘Colorado River Storage Project’’
or ‘‘storage project’’ means those dams, reservoirs,
power plants, and other appurtenant project facili-
ties and features authorized by and constructed in
accordance with the Colorado River Storage Project
Act (43 U.S.C. 620 et seq.).
(5) The term ‘‘capital projects’’ means plan-
ning, design, permitting or other compliance, pre-
construction activities, construction, construction
management, and replacement of facilities, and the
acquisition of interests in land or water, as nec-
essary to carry out the Recovery Implementation
Programs.
(6) The term ‘‘facilities’’ includes facilities for
the genetic conservation or propagation of the en-
dangered fishes, those for the restoration of flood-
plain habitat or fish passage, those for control or
supply of instream flows, and those for the removal
or translocation of nonnative fishes.
(7) The term ‘‘interests in land and water’’ in-
cludes, but is not limited to, long-term leases and
easements, and long-term enforcement, or other
agreements protecting instream flows.
(8) The term ‘‘base funding’’ means funding for
operation and maintenance of capital projects, im-
plementation of recovery actions other than capital
projects, monitoring and research to evaluate the
need for or effectiveness of any recovery action, and
program management, as necessary to carry out the
Recovery Implementation Programs. Base funding
also includes annual funding provided under the
terms of the 1988 Cooperative Agreement and the
1992 Cooperative Agreement.
(9) The term ‘‘recovery actions other than cap-
ital projects’’ includes short-term leases and agree-
ments for interests in land, water, and facilities; the
reintroduction or augmentation of endangered fish
stocks; and the removal, translocation, or other con-
trol of nonnative fishes.
(10) The term ‘‘depletion charge’’ means a one-
time contribution in dollars per acre-foot to be paid
to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service based
on the average annual new depletion by each project.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION TO FUND RECOVERY PROGRAMS.
(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR FED-
ERAL PARTICIPATION IN CAPITAL PROJECTS.—(1) There
is hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary,
$46,000,000 to undertake capital projects to carry out the
purposes of this Act. Such funds shall be considered a
nonreimbursable Federal expenditure.
(2) The authority of the Secretary, acting through
the Bureau of Reclamation, under this or any other provi-
sion of law to implement capital projects for the Recovery
Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in
the Upper Colorado River Basin shall expire in fiscal year
2005 unless reauthorized by an Act of Congress.
(3) The authority of the Secretary to implement the
capital projects for the San Juan River Basin Recovery
Implementation Program shall expire in fiscal year 2007
unless reauthorized by an Act of Congress.
(b) COST OF CAPITAL PROJECTS.—The total costs
of the capital projects undertaken for the Recovery Imple-
mentation Programs receiving assistance under this Act
shall not exceed $100,000,000 of which—
(1) costs shall not exceed $82,000,000 for the
Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered
Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin
through fiscal year 2005; and
(2) costs shall not exceed $18,000,000 for the
San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program
through fiscal year 2007.
The amounts set forth in this subsection shall be adjusted
by the Secretary for inflation in each fiscal year beginning
after the enactment of this Act.
(c) NON-FEDERAL
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO
CAPITAL
PROJECTS.—(1) The Secretary, acting through the Bu-
reau of Reclamation, may accept contributed funds from
the Upper Division States, or political subdivisions or or-
ganizations with the Upper Division States, pursuant to
agreements that provide for the contributions to be used
for capital projects costs. Such non-Federal contributions
shall not exceed $17,000,000.
(2) In addition to the contribution described in para-
graph (1), the Secretary of Energy, acting through the
Western Area Power Administration, and the Secretary of
the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation,
may utilize power revenues collected pursuant to the Colo-
rado River Storage Project Act to carry out the purposes
of this subsection. Such funds shall be treated as reim-
bursable costs assigned to power for repayment under sec-
tion 5 of the Colorado River Storage Project Act. This
additional contribution shall not exceed $17,000,000.
Such funds shall be considered a non-Federal contribution
for the purposes of this Act. The funding authorized by
this paragraph over any 2-fiscal-year period shall be made
available in amounts equal to the contributions for the
same two fiscal year period made by the Upper Division
States pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) The additional funding provided pursuant to
paragraph (2) may be provided through loans from the
Colorado Water Conservation Board Construction Fund
(37–60–121 C.R.S.) to the Western Area Power Adminis-
tration in lieu of funds which would otherwise be collected
from power revenues and used for storage project repay-
ments. The Western Area Power Administration is author-
ized to repay such loan or loans from power revenues col-
lected beginning in fiscal year 2012, subject to an agree-
ment between the Colorado Water Conservation Board,
the Western Area Power Administration, and the Bureau
of Reclamation. The agreement and any future loan con-
tracts that may be entered into by the Colorado Water
Conservation Board, the Western Area Power Administra-
tion, and the Bureau of Reclamation shall be negotiated
in consultation with Salt Lake City Area Integrated
Projects Firm Power Contractors. The agreement and
loan contracts shall include provisions designed to mini-
mize impacts on electrical power rates and shall ensure
that loan repayment to the Colorado Water Conservation
Board, including principal and interest, is completed no
later than September 30, 2057. The Western Area Power
Administration is authorized to include in power rates
such sums as are necessary to carry out this paragraph
and paragraph (2).
(4) All contributions made pursuant to this sub-
section shall be in addition to the cost of replacement
power purchased due to modifying the operation of the
Colorado River Storage Project and the capital cost of
water from Wolford Mountain Reservoir in Colorado. Such
costs shall be considered as non-Federal contributions, not
to exceed $20,000,000.
(d) BASE FUNDING.—(1) Beginning in the first fiscal
year commencing after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Secretary may utilize power revenues collected
pursuant to the Colorado River Storage Project Act for
the annual base funding contributions to the Recovery Im-
plementation Programs by the Bureau of Reclamation.
Such funding shall be treated as nonreimbursable and as
having been repaid and returned to the general fund of
the Treasury as costs assigned to power for repayment
under section 5 of the Colorado River Storage Project Act.
(2) For the Recovery Implementation Program for
the Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River
Basin, the contributions to base funding referred to in
paragraph (1) shall not exceed $4,000,000 per year. For
the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program,
such contributions shall not exceed $2,000,000 per year.
The Secretary shall adjust such amounts for inflation in
fiscal years commencing after the enactment of this Act.
The utilization of power revenues for annual base funding
shall cease after the fiscal year 2011, unless reauthorized
by Congress; except that power revenues may continue to
be utilized to fund the operation and maintenance of cap-
ital projects and monitoring. No later than the end of fis-
cal year 2008, the Secretary shall submit a report on the
utilization of power revenues for base funding to the ap-
propriate Committees of the United States Senate and the
House of Representatives. The Secretary shall also make
a recommendation in such report regarding the need for
continued base funding after fiscal year 2011 that may
be required to fulfill the goals of the Recovery Implemen-
tation Programs. Nothing in this Act shall otherwise mod-
ify or amend existing agreements among participants re-
garding base funding and depletion charges for the Recov-
ery Implementation Programs.
(3) The Western Area Power Administration and the
Bureau of Reclamation shall maintain sufficient revenues
in the Colorado River Basin Fund to meet their obligation
to provide base funding in accordance with paragraph (2).
If the Western Area Power Administration and the Bu-
reau of Reclamation determine that the funds in the Colo-
rado River Basin Fund will not be sufficient to meet the
obligations of section 5(c)(1) of the Colorado River Stor-
age Project Act for a 3-year period, the Western Area
Power Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation
shall request appropriations to meet base funding obliga-
tions.
(e) 
AUTHORITY
TO
RETAIN
APPROPRIATED
FUNDS.—At the end of each fiscal year any unexpended
appropriated funds for capital projects under this Act
shall be retained for use in future fiscal years. Unex-
pended funds under this Act that are carried over shall
continue to be used to implement the capital projects need-
ed for the Recovery Implementation Programs.
(f) ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may
enter into agreements and contracts with Federal and
non-Federal entities, acquire and transfer interests in
land, water, and facilities, and accept or give grants in
order to carry out the purposes of this Act.
(g) INDIAN TRUST ASSETS.—The Congress finds
that much of the potential water development in the San
Juan River Basin and in the Duchesne River Basin (a
subbasin of the Green River in the Upper Colorado River
Basin) is for the benefit of Indian tribes and most of the
federally designated critical habitat for the endangered
fish species in the San Juan River Basin is on Indian trust
lands, and 21⁄2 miles of critical habitat on the Duchesne
River is on Indian Trust Land. Nothing in this Act shall
be construed to restrict the Secretary, acting through the
Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
from funding activities or capital projects in accordance
with the Federal Government’s Indian trust responsibility.
(h) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—All authorities
provided by this section for the respective Recovery Imple-
mentation Program shall terminate upon expiration of the
current time period for the respective Cooperative Agree-
ment referenced in section 2(1) unless, at least one year
prior to such expiration, the time period for the respective
Cooperative Agreement is extended to conform with this
Act.
SEC. 4. EFFECT ON RECLAMATION LAW.
No provision of this Act nor any action taken pursu-
ant thereto or in furtherance thereof shall constitute a new
or supplemental benefit under the Act of June 17, 1902
(chapter 1093; 32 Stat. 388), and Acts supplemental
thereto and amendatory thereof (43 U.S.C. 371 et seq.).
Passed the House of Representatives July 25, 2000.
Attest:
Clerk.