[House Report 111-269]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


111th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    111-269

======================================================================

 
  DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO ALLOW FOR PREPAYMENT OF 
  REPAYMENT CONTRACTS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE UINTAH WATER 
                          CONSERVANCY DISTRICT

                                _______
                                

 September 29, 2009.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on 
            the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

  Mr. Rahall, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 2950]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

  The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 
bill (H.R. 2950) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to 
allow for prepayment of repayment contracts between the United 
States and the Uintah Water Conservancy District, having 
considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment 
and recommend that the bill as amended do pass.
  The amendment is as follows:
  Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
following:

SECTION 1. PREPAYMENT OF CERTAIN REPAYMENT CONTRACTS BETWEEN THE UNITED 
                    STATES AND THE UINTAH WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT.

  The Secretary of the Interior shall allow for prepayment of the 
repayment contract no. 6-05-01-00143 between the United States and the 
Uintah Water Conservancy District dated June 3, 1976, and supplemented 
and amended on November 1, 1985, and on December 30, 1992, providing 
for repayment of municipal and industrial water delivery facilities for 
which repayment is provided pursuant to such contract, under terms and 
conditions similar to those used in implementing section 210 of the 
Central Utah Project Completion Act (Public Law 102-575), as amended. 
The prepayment--
          (1) shall result in the United States recovering the net 
        present value of all repayment streams that would have been 
        payable to the United States if this Act was not in effect;
          (2) may be provided in several installments to reflect 
        substantial completion of the delivery facilities being 
        prepaid, and any increase in the repayment obligation resulting 
        from delivery of water in addition to the water being delivered 
        under this contract as of the date of enactment of this Act;
          (3) shall be adjusted to conform to a final cost allocation 
        including costs incurred by the Bureau of Reclamation, but 
        unallocated as of the date of the enactment of this Act that 
        are allocable to the water delivered under this contract;
          (4) may not be adjusted on the basis of the type of 
        prepayment financing used by the District; and
          (5) shall be made such that total repayment is made not later 
        than September 30, 2019.

                          PURPOSE OF THE BILL

    The purpose of H.R. 2950 is to direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to allow for prepayment of repayment contracts between 
the United States and the Uintah Water Conservancy District.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    At the time of its construction in the mid-1980s, the 
Jensen Unit of the Central Utah Project was to provide 18,000 
acre feet (AF) of municipal and industrial (M&I) water to the 
residents of Uintah County, Utah. 6,000 AF were to be developed 
with the construction of the Red Fleet Dam and another 12,000 
AF were to be developed at a later date with the construction 
of the Burns Bench Pump Station on the Green River near Jensen, 
Utah. Due to economic conditions during the construction time 
period, only 2,000 AF of the 6,000 AF provided by the Red Fleet 
Dam were subscribed to and the Burns Bench Pump Station was 
never built.
    The Burns Bench Pump Station cannot be constructed as part 
of the Jensen Unit until contractors subscribe to all water 
provided by the Red Fleet Dam. Though still not entirely 
subscribed to, almost all of the water provided by the Red 
Fleet Dam is now being contracted for M&I purposes. The Bureau 
of Reclamation wants to do a final cost allocation on the 
Jensen Unit to determine the final price of project water. If 
that final cost allocation were done without developing the 
Burns Bench Pumping Station, the cost of water per AF would be 
approximately $450 as opposed to $180 per AF, which would be 
the price of water if the entire project is developed.
    The Uintah Water Conservancy District does not want a final 
cost allocation to be performed that does not contemplate the 
construction of the Burns Bench Pump Station. Further, the 
District wants to repay the government early instead of making 
payments over the next several decades. However, no prepayment 
of contracts can occur under the current body of Reclamation 
law without an act of Congress to authorize such prepayment.
    H.R. 2950 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to 
allow for prepayment of the repayment contract for the Jensen 
Unit between the United States and the District. The prepayment 
would include payment for the capital cost of the yet 
unfinished Burns Bench Pumping Station. The legislation does 
not defer or relieve any existing debt payment the District 
owes to the federal government in any way. Further, the 
Congress has previously authorized similar prepayment authority 
for the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project.

                            COMMITTEE ACTION

    H.R. 2950 was introduced on June 18, 2009, by Rep. Jim 
Matheson (D-UT). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee 
on Water and Power. On July 21, 2009, the Subcommittee held a 
hearing on the bill.
    On September 10, 2009, the Subcommittee was discharged from 
further consideration of H.R. 2950 and the full Natural 
Resources Committee met to consider the bill. Subcommittee 
Chairwoman Napolitano (D-CA) offered an amendment in the nature 
of a substitute to make technical corrections to the bill. The 
amendment was adopted by unanimous consent. The bill, as 
amended, was then ordered favorably reported to the House of 
Representatives by unanimous consent .

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Prepayment of certain repayment contracts between the United 
        States and the Uintah Water Conservancy District

    Section 1 provides that the Secretary of the Interior shall 
allow the Uintah Water Conservancy District to prepay the 
federal government for the cost of municipal and industrial 
water delivery facilities that were financed by the United 
States. The section further provides that prepayment shall 
reflect the net present value of the debt the District owes to 
the government, and that the District may prepay the debt in 
several installments, though the debt must be prepaid in-full 
by September 30, 2019. The prepayment shall be adjusted to 
conform to any final cost allocation, as determined by the 
Bureau of Reclamation, and may not be adjusted based on the 
type of financing used by the District to prepay the debt.

            COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and 
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.

                   CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT

    Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United 
States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and 
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be 
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) 
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when 
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted 
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the 
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
    2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2) 
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this 
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in 
revenues or tax expenditures.
    3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or 
objective of this bill is to repeat long title of bill; if long 
title is amended, use of this bill, as ordered reported, is to 
direct the Secretary of the Interior to allow for prepayment of 
repayment contracts between the United States and the Uintah 
Water Conservancy District..
    4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause 
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate 
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office:

H.R. 2950--A bill to allow prepayment of certain repayment contracts 
        between the United States and the Uintah Water Conservancy 
        District

    H.R. 2950 would allow the Uintah Water Conservancy District 
in Utah to prepay the net present value of certain amounts the 
district owes to the U.S. Treasury for its share of the cost to 
build the Jensen Unit of the Central Utah Project. Under 
current law the district is expected to make annual payments 
totaling about $6 million over the 2010-2019 period and about 
$12 million more after 2020.
    Based on information from the Bureau of Reclamation, CBO 
estimates that enacting H.R. 2950 would result in a payment 
from the district of about $10 million in 2010. Following that 
payment, the district would no longer have to make annual 
payments to the Treasury. The net effect of those changes over 
the 2010-2019 period would be an increase in offsetting 
receipts totaling $7 million over the 2010-2014 period and $4 
million over the 2010-2019 period. Over the 2010-2037 period 
the bill would result in a net loss of receipts totaling about 
$8 million. Enacting the legislation would not affect revenues.
    For this estimate, CBO assumes that H.R. 2950 will be 
enacted near the beginning of fiscal year 2010. While the bill 
would allow the district to repay the costs by the end of 
fiscal year 2019, CBO assumes that they would choose to make 
one lump sum payment upon enactment of the bill. As required by 
the bill, this estimate includes the costs currently allocated 
to the project as well as those expected to be included in the 
final cost allocation. For this estimate, CBO used its 
projection of the 30-year Treasury rate for 2010--4.86 
percent--as the discount rate to calculate the district's 
estimated prepayment.
    H.R. 2950 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would impose no costs on State, local, or tribal governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Aurora Swanson. 
The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                           EARMARK STATEMENT

    H.R. 2950 does not contain any congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in 
clause 9(d), 9(e) or 9(f) of rule XXI.

                PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

    This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or 
tribal law.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing 
law.

                                  
