[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 306 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 306

     To authorize all Bureau of Reclamation conduit facilities for 
  hydropower development under Federal Reclamation law, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 13, 2013

    Mr. Barrasso (for himself, Mr. Risch, Mr. Enzi, and Mr. Crapo) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
               Committee on Energy and 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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