[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2010 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2010

 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 10, 2014

 Mr. Barrasso introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and 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''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), 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 relating to particular projects, including small conduit 
hydropower development.
    ``(c) When entering into leases of power privileges under 
subsection (b), the Secretary shall use the processes applicable to 
such leases under section 9(c) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 
(43 U.S.C. 485h(c)).
    ``(d) Lease of power privilege contracts shall be at such rates as, 
in the Secretary's judgment, will produce revenues at least sufficient 
to cover the appropriate share of the annual operation and maintenance 
cost of the project and such fixed charges, including interest, as the 
Secretary deems proper. Lease of power privilege contracts shall be for 
periods not to exceed 40 years.
    ``(e) No findings under section 3 shall be required for a lease 
under subsection (b).
    ``(f) All right, title, and interest to installed power facilities 
constructed by non-Federal entities pursuant to a lease of power 
privilege, and direct revenues derived therefrom, shall remain with the 
lessee unless otherwise required under subsection (g).
    ``(g) Notwithstanding section 8, lease revenues and fixed charges, 
if any, shall be covered into the Reclamation Fund to be credited to 
the project from which those revenues or charges were derived.
    ``(h) 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 subsection (b), the 
Secretary shall offer the lease of power privilege to other parties 
using the processes applicable to such leases under section 9(c) of the 
Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)).
    ``(i) 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.
    ``(j) 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.
    ``(k) 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.
    ``(l) 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.
    ``(m) In this section:
            ``(1) 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) 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) 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) 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) The term `small conduit hydropower' means a facility 
        capable of producing 5 megawatts or less of electric 
        capacity.''.
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