I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3041
To supplement the Small Reclamation Projects Act of 1956 and to supplement
the Federal Reclamation Laws by providing for Federal cooperation
in non-Federal projects and for participation by non-Federal agencies
in Federal projects.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 7, 1996
Mr. CALVERT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resources
A BILL
To supplement the Small Reclamation Projects Act of 1956
and to supplement the Federal Reclamation Laws by
providing for Federal cooperation in non-Federal projects
and for participation by non-Federal agencies in Federal
projects.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
TITLE I
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Small Reclamation
Water Resources Project Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 102. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this title is to encourage Federal,
State, and local participation in the development of
projects under the Federal Reclamation Laws that provide
for total water resources management with emphasis on,
but not limited to, projects that achieve improvements in
the augmentation and management of local water supplies,
conservation of water and energy, fish and wildlife con-
servation, supplemental water for existing supplies, water
quality improvements, flood control, and to provide timely
Federal assistance in the development of similar projects
in the seventeen western reclamation States by non-Fed-
eral organizations. Irrigation shall remain an eligible
project purpose, but shall not be a required purpose for
project proposals.
SEC. 103. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this title:
(1) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(2) The term ‘‘Federal Reclamation Laws’’
means the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), and
Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto.
(3) The term ‘‘project sponsor’’ means a State
or a department, agency, or political subdivision
thereof; or a conservancy district, water users’ asso-
ciation, tribal authority, or agency created by inter-
state compact or similar organization which has the
capacity to contract with the United States under
the Federal Reclamation Laws.
(4) The term ‘‘water and energy conservation’’
means the preservation, protection, enhancement, or
extension of water or energy resources.
(5) The term ‘‘fish and wildlife conservation’’
means those operational measures, habitat, or phys-
ical features associated with the protection, preser-
vation, enhancement, or recovery of those fish and
wildlife resources that are considered of importance
and interest and which shall include, but not be lim-
ited to, migratory species, threatened or endangered
species as listed, or proposed for listing, under the
Endangered Species Act, or other species, as deter-
mined by the Secretary, to be worthy of consider-
ation under these terms.
(6) The term ‘‘water quality improvements’’
shall mean and involve those operation measures and
physical features associated with—
(A) the reclamation and reuse of irrigation
drainage or municipal and industrial return
flows, including wastewater flows;
(B) the reclamation, dilution, or control, of
brackish, toxic, or hazardous waters for bene-
ficial reuse or protection of other related water,
land, or environmental resources; or
(C) flow augmentation from storage to
achieve national or State water quality goals.
(7) The term ‘‘project’’ means—
(A) a single or multipurpose water re-
source development project; or
(B) a project for the rehabilitation, better-
ment, or retrofit of any existing Federal or non-
Federal water infrastructure for purposes of
significant water and energy conservation or
fish and wildlife conservation.
(8) The term ‘‘maximum allowable estimated
Federal share’’ shall be determined by the Secretary
using the Bureau of Reclamation composite con-
struction cost index for January of that year with
$30,000,000 as the January 1995 base and shall be
for any given proposal submitted during any given
calendar year.
SEC. 104. PROPOSAL FEE.
Any project sponsor applying for assistance under
this Act shall submit a proposal to the Secretary in such
form and manner as the Secretary may prescribe. Each
such proposal shall be accompanied by a payment of
$5,000 plus $1,000 for each $1,000,000 of the estimated
Federal share of project costs, or portion thereof. Fifty
percent of the payment shall accompany the application
and the remaining 50 percent shall be due upon approval
of the project by the Secretary, if approved.
SEC. 105. CONTENTS OF PROPOSAL.
(a) Any project proposal shall set forth a plan and
estimated cost in detail comparable to those included in
preauthorization reports required for a Federal reclama-
tion project. Any such proposal shall have been submitted
for review by the State or States in which the project is
located and shall include a proposed allocation of capital
costs to function such that costs for facilities used for a
single purpose shall be allocated to that purpose and costs
for facilities used for more than one purpose shall be so
allocated among the purposes served such that each pur-
pose will share equitably in the costs of such joint facili-
ties. The costs of means and measures to prevent loss of
and damage to existing fish and wildlife resources shall
be considered as non-Federal project costs and allocated
as may be appropriate among project functions. Such pro-
posal shall also include an investigation of soil characteris-
tics which might result in toxic or hazardous return flows.
(b)(1) Each proposal shall include a finding that the
project sponsor already holds or can acquire all lands and
interests in land, except public and other lands and inter-
est in land owned by the United States which are within
the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary and sub-
ject to disposition by the Secretary, and rights, pursuant
to applicable State law, to the use of water necessary for
the successful construction, operation, and maintenance of
the project and that it is ready, able, and willing to finance
otherwise than by loan and grant of Federal funds the
non-Federal portion of the costs of the project, which por-
tion shall include all costs of acquiring lands, interests in
land, and rights to the use of water except as provided
in section 105(b)(2) hereof.
(2) The Secretary shall require each project sponsor
to contribute towards the cost of the project, other than
by loan or grant of Federal funds, not less than 25 percent
nor more than 40 percent of the allowable estimated costs
of the project, unless mutually agreed to by the Secretary
and the project sponsor. In determining the amount of the
contribution, the Secretary shall credit toward that
amount the cost of investigations, surveys, engineering,
and other services necessary to the preparation of propos-
als and plans for the project as required by the Secretary,
the costs of lands and rights-of-way acquisition required
for the project, amounts spent by the project sponsor for
construction or acquisition of existing facilities prior to
project approval, and the filing fee required by this Act.
In determining the allowable estimated cost of the project,
the Secretary shall not include the amount of grants ac-
corded the organizations under section 106(b).
(c) Within nine months from the time the initial loan
application report proposal is submitted to the Secretary,
the Secretary shall make a determination whether the pro-
posal is financially feasible and constitutes a reasonable
risk under the provisions of this Act and either approve
or disapprove the proposal. The Secretary shall promptly
transmit any approved proposals to the Congress. Any Na-
tional Environmental Policy Act documentation for the
project shall be completed prior to Secretarial approval of
the proposal.
(d) At the time the Secretary submits a project pro-
posal to the Congress, or at any subsequent time prior
to the completion of construction of the project, the Sec-
retary may increase the amount of the requested loan and/
or grant, subject to the limitations allowed by subsection
(8) of section 103 of this Act, to compensate for increases
in construction costs due to price escalation.
(e) No Federal funds may be obligated for Federal
financial participation in any project prior to sixty cal-
endar days not including days on which either the House
of Representatives or the Senate is not in session because
of an adjournment of more than three calendar days to