[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 678 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 678
To authorize all Bureau of Reclamation conduit facilities for
hydropower development under Federal Reclamation law, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 13, 2013
Mr. Tipton (for himself, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Costa, Mr. McClintock, Mr.
Smith of Nebraska, Mr. Amodei, Mr. Cramer, Mrs. Lummis, and Mr.
Coffman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize all Bureau of Reclamation conduit facilities for
hydropower development under Federal Reclamation law, 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 Small Conduit
Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act''.
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION.
Section 9(c) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (43 U.S.C.
485h(c)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``The Secretary is authorized to enter into
contracts to furnish water'' and inserting the following:
``(1) The Secretary is authorized to enter into contracts
to furnish water'';
(2) by striking ``(1) shall'' and inserting ``(A) shall'';
(3) by striking ``(2) shall'' and inserting ``(B) shall'';
(4) by striking ``respecting the terms of sales of electric
power and leases of power privileges shall be in addition and
alternative to any authority in existing laws relating to
particular projects'' and inserting ``respecting the sales of
electric power and leases of power privileges shall be an
authorization in addition to and alternative to any authority
in existing laws related to particular projects, including
small conduit hydropower development''; and
(5) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) When carrying out this subsection, the
Secretary shall first offer the lease of power
privilege to an irrigation district or water users
association operating the applicable transferred work,
or to the irrigation district or water users
association receiving water from the applicable
reserved work. The Secretary shall determine a
reasonable time frame for the irrigation district or
water users association to accept or reject a lease of
power privilege offer.
``(3) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) shall not apply to small
conduit hydropower development, excluding siting of
associated transmission on Federal lands, under this
subsection.
``(4) The Power Resources Office of the Bureau of
Reclamation shall be the lead office of small conduit
hydropower activities conducted under this subsection.
``(5) Nothing in this subsection shall obligate the
Western Area Power Administration, the Bonneville Power
Administration, or the Southwestern Power
Administration to purchase or market any of the power
produced by the facilities covered under this
subsection and none of the costs associated with
production or delivery of such power shall be assigned
to project purposes for inclusion in project rates.
``(6) Nothing in this subsection 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, nor shall it create any
unmitigated financial or physical impacts to the
project or division involved, and shall be on such
terms and conditions as in the judgment of the
Secretary in consultation with the appropriate
irrigation district or water users association, will
adequately protect the planning, design, construction,
operation, maintenance, and other interests of the
United States and the project or division involved.
``(7) Nothing in this subsection shall alter or
affect any existing agreements for the development of
conduit hydropower projects or disposition of revenues.
``(8) In this subsection:
``(A) 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.
``(B) Irrigation district.--The term
`irrigation district' means any irrigation,
water conservation, multicounty water
conservation district, or any separate public
entity composed of two or more such districts
and jointly exercising powers of its member
districts.
``(C) Reserved work.--The term `reserved
work' 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.
``(D) Transferred work.--The term
`transferred work' 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.
``(E) 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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