-IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 2, 1955
Mr . .AsrIXALL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-mittee on Interior and Insular Affairs
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Colorado River storage project and par-ticipating projects, and for other purpo~cs.
1 Be it enacted by the Hen ate and II ouse of Representa-2 Lives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 'I1hat, in order to initiate the comprehensiYe development 4 of the water re~ources of the Upper Colorado River Ba in, 5 the Congress, in the exercise of its constitutional authority 6 to provide for the general welfare, to regulate commerce 7 among the States and with the Indian tribes, and to make
1 for beneficial consumptive use, making it possible for the 2 States of the Upper Basin to utilize, consistently with the 3 provisions of the Colorado River Compact, the apportion-4 ments made to and among them in the Colorado River Com-5 pact and the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, re. pee-6 tively, providing for the reclamation of arid mid srrninricl 7 land, for the control of floods and for the improycmcnt of 8 navigation, and the generation of hy<lroelectric power, as 9 an incident of the foregoing purposes, hereby authori?,es the 10 Secretary of the Interior ( 1) to construct, operate, and 11 maintain the following initial units of the Colorado River 12 storage project, consisting of dams, reservoirs, powerplants, 13 transmission facilities and appurtenant works: Curecanti, 14 Echo Park, Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon: Provided, 15 That the Curecanti Dam shall be constructed to a height 16 which will impound not less than nine hundred and forty 17 thousand acre-feet of ,Yater or will create a reseryoir of such 18 greater capacity as can be obtained by a high waterline
19 located at seYen thousand five hundred and twenty feet -20 above mean sea level and that construction thereof shall not
21 be undertaken until the Secretary has, on the basis of
fur-th . . , . . . .
1 that, in his judgment, the benefits of such unit
will
exceed its2 costs; and ( 2) to constnlCt, operate, and maintain the
fol-3 lowing additional reclamation projects ( including
power-4 generating and transmission facilitie related thereto),
here-5 inafter referred to as participating projects: Central Utah
6 (initial phase) ; Emery County, Florida, Hammond, La
7 Barge, Lyman, Paonia (including the Minnesota unit, a dam
8 and reservoir on Muddy Creek just above its confluence with
9 the North Fork of the Gunnison River, and other necessary
10 works) ; Pine River extension, Seedskadee, Silt, Smith Fork,
11 San Juan-Chama, Navajo: Provided, That (a) no
appro-12 priation for or construction of the San J nan-Chama. project
13 or the Navajo participating project shall be made or begun
14 until coordinated reports thereon shall have been submitted
15 to the affected States, inclnding (but without limiting the
16 generality of the foregoing) the State of Texas, pursuant
17 to the Act of December 22, 1944, and said projects shall
18 have been approved and authorized by the Congress:
Pro-19 vided
f
uriher, That with reference to the San J uan-Ch11ma20 project, it shall be limited to a single off stream dam and
21 reservOLr on a tributary of the Chama River to be used
1 times be operated by the Bureau of Reclamation of the
De-2 partment of the Interior in strict compliance with the Rio
3 Grande Compact as administered by the Rio Grande
Com-4 pact Commission.
5 SEC. 2. In order to achieve such comprehensive
develop-6 ment as will assure the consumptive use in the States of the
7 Upper Colorado River Basin of waters of the Colorado
8 River System the use of which is apportioned to the Upper
9 Colorado River Basin by the Colorado River Compact and
10 to each State thereof by the Upper Colorado River Basin
11 Compact, it is the intent -of the Congress in the future to
12 authorize the construction, operation, and maintenance of
13 further units of the Colorado River storage projec~of
addi-14- tional phases of participating projects authorized in this
15 Act, and of new participating projects as additional
informa-16 tion becomes available and additional needs are indicated.
17 It is hereby declared to be the purpose of the Congress to
18 authorize as participating projects only projects (including
19 units or phases thereof) -
-20 ( 1) for the use, in one or more of the States
1 their probable engmeenng and economic justification
2 and feasibility shall be available. It is likewise declared
3 to be the policy of the Congress that the costs of any
4 participating project authorized in the future shall be
5 amortized from its own revenues to the fullest extent
con-6 sistent with the provisions of this Act and Federal
7 reclamation law.
8 SEC. 3. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, in
9 constructing, operating, and maintaining the units of the
10 Colorado River storage project and the participating projects
11 listed in section 1 of this Act, the Secretary shall be governed
12 by the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902,
13 32 Stat. 388, and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary
14 thereto) : Provided, That (a) inigation repayment contracts
15 shall be entered into which, except as otherwise provided
16 for the Paonia and Eden projects, provide for repayment of
17 the obligation assumed thereunder with respect to any project
18 contract unit over a period of not more than fifty years
19 exclusive of any development period authorized by law; (b)
20 prior to construction of irrigation distribution facilities,
21 repayment contracts shall be made with an ''organization" as
1 substantial proportion of the lands to be served are owned by
~ the United States; ( c) contract relating to municipal water
3 supply may be made without regard to the limitations of the
4 last sentence of ·e(·tion 9 ( c) of the Reclamation Project Act
5 of 1939; and ( d) , as to Indjan lands within, under or served
6 by any participating project, :payment of construction costs
7 withjn the capability of the land to repay shall be subject to
-8 the Act of July 1, 1932 (47 Stat. 564). All units and
9 participating projects shall be subject to the apportionments
10 of the use of water between the Upper and Lower Basins
11 of the Colorado River and among the States of the Upper
12 Ba.sin fixed in the Colorado River Compact and the Upper
13 Colorado River Basin Compact, respectively, and to the terms
14- of the treaty with the United Mexican States (Treaty Series ·
15 994).
16 SEC. 4. (a) There is hereby authorized a separate
17 fund in the Treasury of the United States to be known as
18 the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund (hereinafter referred
19 to as the "Basin Fund"), which shall remain available until
20 expended, as hereafter provided, for carrying out provisions
21 of this Act other than section 7.
1 ( c} All revenues collected in connection with the
oper-2 ation of the Colorado River storage project and participating
3 projects shall be credited to the Basin Fund, and shall be
4 available, without further appropriation, for ( 1) defraying
5 the costs of operation, maintenance, and replacements of,
6 and emergency expenditures for, all faeilities of the Colornclo
7 River storage project and participating projects, within such
8 separate limitations as may be included in annual
appro-9 priation acts, ( 2) payment as required by subsection ( d)
10 of this section, ( 3) payment of the reimbursable construction
11 costs of the Paonia project which are beyond the ability
12 of the water users to repay within the period pre.scribed in
13 the Act of Juno 25, 1947 ( 61 Stat. 181), said payment
14 to be made within fifty years after completion of that
por-15 tion of the project which has not been constructed as of
16 the date of this Act, and ( 4) payment in connection with ;17 the irrigation features of the Eden project as specified in
18 the Act of June 28, 1949 (63 Stat. 277): 'Provided, That
19 revenues credited to the Basin Fund shall not be aYailable 20 for appropriation for construction of the units and
partici-21 pating projects authorized by or pursuant to this Act.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20
21 22or any separable feature thereof which are allocated to
· power pursuant to section 5 of this Act, ·within a period of years not exceeding the expected economrn life of such unit or particjpating project but not to ex-ceed one hundred years;
( 2) the costs of each unit, participating project, or any separable feature thereof ,vhich are allocated to municipal water supply pursuant to ::;ection 5 of this Act, within a period not exceeding fifty years from the date of completion of such unit, participating project, or separable feature thereof;
( 3) interest on the unamortized balance of the in-vestment ( including interest during construction) in the power and municipal water supply features of eaeh unit, participating project, or any separable feature thereof, at· a rate determined by the Secretary of the Treasury as provided in subsection ( e) , and interest · due shall be a first charge; and
( 4) the costs of each unit, participating project,
or any separable feature thereof which are allocated to irrigation pursuant to section 5 of this Act in equal
1 cases of the Paonia project and of Indian lands, within 2 a period consistent with other provisions of law ap-3 plicable thereto.
4 ( e) The interest rate applicable to each unit of the 5 storage project and each participating project shall be
de-6 termined by the Secretary of the Treasury as of the time 7 the first advance is made for initiating construction of said 8 · unit or project. Such interest rate shall be determined by 9 calculating the average yield to maturity on the basis of 10 daily closing market bid quotations during the month of 11 June next preceding the fiscal year in which said advance is 12 made, on all interest-bearing marketable public debt obliga-13 tions of the United States having a maturity date of fifteen 14 or more years from the first day of said month, and by ad-15 justing such average annual yield to the nearest one-eighth 16 of 1 per centum.
17 ( f) Business-type budgets shall be submitted to the 18 Congress annually for all operations :financed by the Basin 19 Fund.
20 SEC. 5. Upon completion of each unit, participating 21 project or separable feature thereof the Secretary shall
11-1 supply,- Hood control, navigation, or·-any other -purposes 2 authorized under reclamation law. Allocations of construc-3 tion, operation and maintenance costs to authorized
non-4 reimbursable purposes shall be nonreturnable under the 5 provisions of this Act. On January 1 of each year the 6 Secretary shall report to the Congress for the previous
7 fiscal year, beginning with the fiscal year 1956, upon the 8 status of the revenues from and the cost of constructing,
9 operating, and maintaining the Colorado River storage proj-10 ect and the participating projects. The Secretary's report
11 shall be prepared to reflect accurately the Federal investment 12 allocated at that time to power, to inigation, and to other 13 _ purposes, the progress of return and repayment thereon, 14 and the estimated rate of progress, year by year, in accom-15 plishing full repayment.
16 SEC. 6. The hydroelectric powerplants authorized by 17 this Act to be constructed, operated, and maintained by 18 the Secretary shall be .operated in conjunction with other 19 Federal powerplants, present and potential, so as to produce
20 the greatest practicable amount of power and energy that 21 can be sold at firm power and energy rates, but no
exer-1 Readjustment Act, or any contract lawfully enteTed into
2 under said-Acts without the consent of the other contracting 3 parties. Neither the impounding nor the use of water for
4 the generation of power and energy at the plants of the 5 Colorado River torage project shall preclude or impair the
6 appropriation for domestic or agricultural purposes, pursuant
7 to applicable State law, of waters apportioned to the States 8 of the Upper Colorado River Basin.
9 SEC. 7. In connection with the development of the 10 Colorado River storage project and of the participating 11 projects, the Secretary is authorized and directed to investi·-12 gate, plan, construct, operate, and maintain ( 1) public 13 ~·ecreational facilities on lands withdrawn or acquired for the 14 development of aid project or of said participating projects, 15 to conserve the scenery, the natural, rustoric, and archeologic 16 objects, and the wildlife on said lands, and to provide for 17 public use and enjoyment of the same and of the water 18 areas created by these projects by such means as are con-19 sistent with the primary purposes of said projects; and ( 2)
20 facilities to mitigate losses of and improve conditions for the 21 propagation of fish and wildlife. The Secretary is authorized
1 State, and local governmental agencies by lease, transfer, 2 exchange, or conveyance upon such terms and conditions 3 as will best promote their development and operation in 4 the public interest. All costs incurred pursuant to this 5 section shall be nonreimbmsable and nonreturnable.
6 SEC. 8. Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed
7 to alter, amend, repeal, construe, interpret, modify, or be 8 in conflict with any provision of the Boulder Canyon Project 9 Act (45 Stat. 1057), the Boulder Canyon Project Adjust-10 ment Act ( 54 Stat. 77 4) , the Colorado RiYer Compact, 11 the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, the Rio Grande 12 Compact of 1938, or the Treaty with the United )Iexican 13 States ( Treaty Series 994) .
14 SEC. 9. Expenditures for the Flaming Gorge, Glen 15 Canyon, Curecanti, and Echo Park initial units of the Colo-16 rado River storage project may be made without regard 17 to the soil survey and land classification requirements of 18 the Interior Departmeut Appropriation Act, 1954.
19 SEC. 10. Construction of the projects herein authorized
20 shall proceed as rapidly as is consistent with budgetary ;21 requirements and the economic needs of the count1y.
1 SEC. 12. In planning the additional deYelopment
neces-2 sary to the full consumptive u e in the Upper Basin of the
3 waters of the Colorado River system allocated to the Upper
4 Basin and in planning the use of and in using credits 5 from net power revenues available for the purpose of 6 assisting in the pay-out of costs of participating projects
7 herein and hereafter authorized in the States of Colorado,
8 New Mexico, Utah, and ,Yyoming, the Secretary shall
9 have regard for the achievement within each of such
10 State of the fullest practicable consumptiYe use of the
11 waters of the Upper Colorado RiYer system consistent with
12 the apportionment thereof among such States.
13 SEC. 13. In the operation and maintenance of all
facili-14 ties, authorized by Federal law and under the jurisdiction
15 and supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, in the basin
16 of the Colorado River, the Secretary of the Interior is directed
17 to comply ,vith the applicable provisions of the Colorado
18 River Co1:1pact, the Boulder Canyon Project Act, the Boulder
19 Canyon Project Adjustment Act, and the Treaty with the
20 United 1\Iexican States, in the storage and release of water
21 from reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin. In the eYent
1 the prov1s1ons of this section, and consent is given to the 2 joinder of the United States as a party in such suit or suits. 3 SEC. 14. The· Secretary of the Interior is directed to 4 institute studies and to make a report to the Congress and 5 to the States of the Colorado River Basin of the effect upon 6 the quality of water of the Colorado River, of all trans-7 mountain diversions of water of the Colorado River system 8 and of all other storage and reclamation projects in the 9 Colorado River Basin.
10 SEC. 15. As used in this
Act-11 The terms "Colorado River Basin", "Colorado River
12 Compact", "Colorado River system", "Lee Ferry", "States 13 of the Upper Division", "Upper Basin", and "domestic use"
14 shall have the meaning ascribed to them in article II of the 15 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact;
16 The term "States of the Upper Colorado River Basin~'
17 shall mean the States of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, 18 Utah, and Wyoming;
19 The term "Upper Colorado River Basin" shall have 20 the same meaning as the term "Upper Basin" ;
1 by the Congi-ess of the United States of America by Act
2 of April 6, 1949 ( 63 Stat. 31) ;
3 The term "Rio Grande Compact" shall mean that
cer-4 tain compact executed on March 18, 1938, by commissioners
5 representing the States of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas
6 and consented to by the Congress of the United Stnte~ of
7 America by Act of Uay 31, 1939 ( 53 Stat. 785) ;
8 The term "treaty with the United Mexican States" shall
9 mean that certain treaty between the United States of
10 America and the United Mexican States signed at
Wash-11 ington, Di trict of Oolnmbia, February 3, 1944, relating
12 to the utilization of the waters of the Colorado River and
13 other rivers, as amended and supplemented by the protocol
14 dated November 14, 1944, and the understandings recited
15 in the Senate resolution of April 18, 1945, advising and
16 consenting to ratification thereof; and
17 The term "economic life," as used herein in relation
18 to repayment of costs allocated to power, shall mean the
19 period during which the unit or project is expected to
con-20 tinue to provide the power and energy contemplated from
21 the design and construction of the power facilities of the
Pv-A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Colo-rado River storage project and participating projects, and for other purposes.
By Mr. AsPINALL FEBRUARY 2, 1955
Referred to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs
