Title: To redesignate the facility of the Bureau of Reclamation located at Highway-155, Coulee Dam, WA 99116, as the "Nathaniel 'Nat' Washington Power Plant".
Policy area: Energy

Summary:
This bill designates the Bureau of Reclamation's facility in Coulee Dam, Washington, known as the Third Power Plant, as the Nathaniel "Nat" Washington Power Plant.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3937 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3937

  To redesignate the facility of the Bureau of Reclamation located at 
Highway-155, Coulee Dam, WA 99116, as the ``Nathaniel `Nat' Washington 
                             Power Plant''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 24, 2019

 Mr. Newhouse introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To redesignate the facility of the Bureau of Reclamation located at 
Highway-155, Coulee Dam, WA 99116, as the ``Nathaniel `Nat' Washington 
                             Power Plant''.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Both Nathaniel ``Nat'' Washington, Sr., and his son, 
        Nat, Jr., direct descendants of the family of President George 
        Washington, were pioneers for the development of hydropower and 
        strong proponents of hydropower's many benefits for Washington 
        State and the Pacific Northwest.
            (2) In 1908, Nat Washington, Sr., left his home in Virginia 
        and established a homestead along the Columbia River in the 
        area of Grand Coulee, Washington. In 1916, he was elected Grant 
        County prosecutor.
            (3) As the first president of the Columbia River Dam, 
        Irrigation, and Power District, Nat Washington, Sr., played a 
        key role in developing the concept of, and securing the 
        approval for, the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam.
            (4) In 1926, Nat Washington, Sr., fell victim to the power 
        of the Columbia River when he was swept away in the current, 
        losing his life while attempting to save his brother James from 
        drowning.
            (5) Nat Washington, Jr., followed in his father's footsteps 
        by serving as Grant County prosecutor after earning his law 
        degree at the University of Washington, where he was elected 
        student body president at the University of Washington as an 
        undergraduate.
            (6) Nat Washington, Jr., served in the Washington State 
        Legislature for 30 years and was instrumental in the 
        development of several hydropower projects across the region, 
        as well as the Columbia Basin Project, which utilizes the Grand 
        Coulee Dam to supply water for irrigation to 10,000 farms on 
        671,000 acres of farmland in the Columbia Basin.
            (7) When the Third Power Plant was completed in 1980, Grand 
        Coulee Dam became the largest hydropower generating facility in 
        the world. With a 6,809 megawatt generating capacity, supplying 
        an average of 21 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to 11 
        States and Canada each year, Grand Coulee is the largest power 
        station in the nation.
            (8) The vision, advocacy, and public service of Nat 
        Washington, Sr., and his son, Nat, Jr., fundamentally 
        transformed the Columbia Basin, Washington State, and the 
        entire Pacific Northwest by securing hydropower--a clean, 
        affordable, and reliable source of energy--as the foundation of 
        the region's power system.

SEC. 2. REDESIGNATION OF FACILITY.

    The facility of the Bureau of Reclamation located at Highway-155, 
Coulee Dam, WA 99116, known as the Third Powerplant, shall be known and 
designated as the ``Nathaniel `Nat' Washington Power Plant''.

SEC. 3. REFERENCES.

    Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper or other 
record of the United States to the facility referred to in section 1 
shall be deemed to be a reference to the Nathaniel ``Nat'' Washington 
Power Plant.
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