[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1963 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1963

 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 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 Conservation and Utilization Act, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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''.

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 
Utilization Act''), is amended--
            (1) by striking ``In connection with'' and inserting ``(a) 
        In connection with'';
            (2) by striking ``All right, title, and interest in the 
        facilities provided for such municipal or miscellaneous water 
        supplies or surplus power and the revenues 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 connection with any project 
constructed under this Act, and shall have authority in addition to and 
alternative to any authority in existing laws related to particular 
projects, including 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 district or water 
users association operating the applicable transferred conduit, or to 
the irrigation district or water users association receiving water from 
the applicable reserved conduit. The Secretary shall determine a 
reasonable 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 categorical 
exclusion process under the National Environmental 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 Western 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 Reclamation facilities, as water 
used for conduit hydropower generation 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 purposes of 
the project or division involved and shall not create 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, operation, 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 hydropower projects or disposition of revenues.
    ``(h) In this section:
            ``(1) Conduit.--The term `conduit' means any Bureau of 
        Reclamation tunnel, canal, pipeline, aqueduct, flume, ditch, or 
        similar manmade water conveyance that is operated for the 
        distribution of water for agricultural, municipal, or 
        industrial consumption and not primarily for the generation of 
        electricity.
            ``(2) Irrigation district.--The term `irrigation district' 
        means any irrigation, water conservation or conservancy, multi-
        county water conservation or conservancy district, or any 
        separate public entity composed of two or more such districts 
        and jointly exercising powers of its member districts.
            ``(3) Reserved conduit.--The term `reserved conduit' means 
        any conduit that is included in project works the care, 
        operation, and maintenance of which has been reserved by the 
        Secretary, through the Commissioner of the Bureau of 
        Reclamation.
            ``(4) Transferred conduit.--The term `transferred conduit' 
        means any conduit that is included in project works the care, 
        operation, and maintenance of which has been transferred to a 
        legally organized water users association or irrigation 
        district.
            ``(5) Small conduit hydropower.--The term `small conduit 
        hydropower' means a facility capable of producing 5 megawatts 
        or less of electric capacity.''.
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