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COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD 212 State Office Building
Denver 2, Colorado February 9, 1959
A BILL
To authorize the construction, operation, and maintenance by the Secretary of the Interior of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project, Colorado.
SECOND REVISION
1 ~g It En~cted
QY:
the Senate and House of Representatives Qi 2 the United States of America in Congress Assembled. That for 3 the purpose of supplying water for irrigation, municipal, domes-4 tic, and industrial uses, generating and transmittinghydro-5 electric power and energy, controlling floods, providing for the 6 preservation and propagation of fish and wildlife, and preserv-7 ing and improving recreational facilities, and for other useful 8 and beneficial purposes, the Secretary of the Interior, acting 9 pursuant to the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902 10 32 Stat. 388, and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary
11 thereto) as far as those laws are not inconsistent with the pro-12 visions of this Act and subject to the apportionments of the use 13 of water fixed in the Colorado River compact arrl.the Upper Colo-14 rado River Basin compact, the Boulder Canyon Project Act, and 15 the United States-Mexico Water Treaty of 1944 (Treaty Series 16 994), is hereby authorized to construct, operate, and maintain 17 the Fryingpan-Arkansas project, Colorado, in substantial accord-18 ance with the engineering plans therefor set forth in House
19 Document Numbered 187, Eighty-third Congress, first session, but 20 with such modifications of, omissions from, or additions to the 21 works therein described as the Secretary may from time to time, 22 find necessary or proper for accomplishing the objectives of 23 the project: Provided, however, That such modifications or addi-24 tions as may be required in connection therewith shall not ex-25 tend to or contemplate the so-called Gunnison-Arkansas p~oject: 26 Provideq, further, That in lieu of a reservoir on the Roaring
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1 Fork River at the Aspen site, there shall be constructed a reser-2 void at the Ruedi site on the Fryingpan River of an active capa-3 city of approximately 100,000 acre feet: Provided, furthe.r, 4 That a replacement reservoir may be constructed on the Roaring 5 Fork River above its confluence with the Fryingpan River of a 6 capacity of approximately 5,000 acre feet, but that the con-7 struction thereof shall not be undertaken until the Secretary 8 has certified to the Congress and the President that, in his 9 judgment, the benefits of such unit will exceed its costs. 10 SEC. 2. (a) Contracts to repay that portion of the cost of 11 the Fryingpan-Arkansas project which is allocated to irrigation 12 and assigned to be repaid by irrigation water users (exclusive 13 of such portion of said cost as may be derived from temporary 14 water supply contracts or from other sources) shall be entered 15 into pursuant to subsection (d), section 9, of the Reclamation 16 Project Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 1187), as amended, and may provide 17 that the general repayment obligation shall be spread in annual 18 or semi-annual installments.in number and amounts satisfactory 19 to the Secretary, over a period of not more than sixty years,
20 commencing with the completion of project construction, for any 21 project contract unit or for any irrigation block, if the proj-22 ect contract unit be divided into two or more irrigation blocks. 23 (b) Net revenues derived from the sale of commercial 24 power and from the furnishing of water for municipal, domestic, 25 and industrial uses shall first be applied to the amortization, 26 with interest, of those portions of the actual cost of construc-27 tion of the project which are allocated, respectively, to com-28 mercial power and to municipal, domestic, and industrial water 29 supply and shall thereafter be applied to amortization of that 30 portion of said actual cost which is allocated to irrigation but 31 which is beyond the ability of the irrigation water users to re-32 turn during the period hereinbefore specified. The interest rate 33 on the unamortized balance of the commercial power and the muni-34 cipal, domestic, and industrial water supply allocations shall 35 be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury as of the time
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1 moneys are first made available by Congress for initiating con-2 structio~ of the project. It shall be determined by calculating 3 the average yield to maturity, on the basis of the closing mar-4 ket bid quotations during the month of June next preceding the
5 fiscal year in which said moneys are made available, of all in-6 terest-bearing marketable public debt obligations of the United 7 States having a maturity date of fifteen or more years from the 8 first day of said month and by adjusting such average annual 9 yield to the nearest one-eighth of 1 per centum.
10 (c) No part of the specific municipal water-supply 11 systems described in House Document Numbered 187, Eight-third 12 Congress, shall be constructed by the Secretary in the absence 13 of evidence satisfactory to him that it would be infeasible for 14 the communities involved to construct such works themselves, 15 singly or jointly. In the event it is determined that such 16 facilities are to be constructed by the Secretary, a con_tract 17 providing, among other things, for payment of the actual cost 18 thereof with interest and repayment period as hereinbefore pro-19 vided, and as rapidly as is consistent with the contracting
part-20 ies' ability to pay, and for assumption by the contracting party 21 or parties of the care, operation, maintenance, and replacement 22 of the works shall be a condition precedent thereto.
23 (d) In conformity with the provisions of subsections 24 (a), (b), and (c) of this section, the Secretary, prior to the 25 delivery of project water supplies, shall have entered in a con-26 tract, or contracts, with organizations which have the capacity 27 to levy assessments upon all taxable real property located with-28 in their boundaries to assist in making repayments.
29 (e) The Secretary is authorized to enter into an 30 agreement with any public school district serving an area af-31 fected by construction of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project pur-32 suant to which there will be paid to the district, annually or
33 semi-annually, from appropriations made for construction of the 34 project an amount substantially equal to the ave!age per pupil 35 cost of operating the district's schools during the school year
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1 or term for which payment is made, multiplied by the average
2 number of pupils then enrolled in those schools who are
depen-3 dents of persons brought into the project area who are engaged
4 in project construction activities. This amount, however, shall
5 be diminished by any payments made or anticipated to be made to
6 the district pursuant to the Act of September 30, 1950, as
here-7 tofore or hereafter amended (20 U.S. C., ch. 13). The Secretary
8 shall reduce further the contributions to the school districts
9 in the amount of tax revenues received by the districts by
rea-10 son of project activities. The Secretary may advance a
reason-11 able portion of the amount estimated to become payable under any
12 such agreement during the then current or ensuing school year
13 or term, but any amount so advanced shall be subject to
adjust-14 ment after the close of the year or term if it does not fully
15 cover, or if it more than covers, the amount to which the
dis-16 trict is found to be entitled under the first three sentences of
17 this subsection. The Secretary is further authorized, without
18 duplicating assistance to which any such district may be entitled
19 under the Act of September 23, 1950, as heretofore or hereafter
20 amended (20 U.S. S., ch. 14), to make available funds or
faci-21 lities to provide space in which to carry on educational and
re-22 lated activities.
23 (f) The reimbursable costs of the Ruedi reservoir,
24 or any reservoir constructed in lieu or in addition thereof,
25 which are returnable from project revenues other than those
de-26 rived from the operation of said reservoir itself, shall be
27 limited to the sum of $7,600,000. The remaining cost of such
28 reservoir shall be reimbursable from the sale of water for
in-29 dustrial, municipal and agricultural uses from the Ruedi
Reser-30 voir and, insofar as such remaining reimbursable cost is not
31 covered by contracts relating thereto, from Colorado's share of
32 the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund (70 Stat. 107).
33 SEC. 3. (a) The Fryingpan-Arkansas project shall be operated
34 under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior in
accord-35 ance with the operating principles set forth on pages 36-39 of
36 House Document Numbered 187, Eighty-third Congress: Provided,
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1 That, with respect to the requirement set out in said operating 2 principles that the project be operated so as not to impair prior-3 ity uses of water in western Colorado under State law.
4 (b) The Secretary may appoint the two representatives 5 of the United States to the Conunission referred t o in paragraph 6 17 of said principles and may adopt modification thereof upon the 7 reconunendation of the Commission: Provided, That such recommenda-8 tions are made and adopted by said Commission in conformity to the 9 provisions of paragraph 17 of said operating principles.
10 SEC. 4. Any and all benefits and rights of western Colorado 11 water users in and to water stored in the Green Mountain Reser-12 voir, Colorado-Big Thompson project, as described, set forth 13 and defined in Senate Document Numbered 80, Seventy-fifth
Con-14 gress, first session, shall not be impaired, prejudiced, abro-15 gated, nullified, or diminished in any manner whatever by reason 16 of the authorization, construction, operation, and maintenance 17 of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project authorized by this Act.
18 SEC. 5. Except for such rights as are appurtenant to lands 19 which are acquired for project purposes, no valid right to the
20 storage or use of water within the natural basin of the Colorado 21 River in the State of Colorado shall be acquired by the Secretary
22 of the Interior through eminent domain proceedings for the
pur-23 pose of storing or using outside of said basin the water embraced 24 within that right, and no water, the right to the storage or use
25 of which is so acquired by anyone other than the Secretary, shall 26 be transported through or by means of any works of the Fryingpan-27 Arkansas project from the Colorado River basin t o the Arkansas
28 River basin.
29 SEC. 6. (a) The Secretary i s authorized to plan, construct, 30 operate, and maintain public recreational facilities on lands
with-31 drawn or acquired for the development of the Fryingpan-Arkansas 32 project, to conserve the scenery, the natural, historic, and
33 archeologic objects and the wildlife on said lands, and to provide 34 for public use and enjoyment of the same and of the water areas 35 created by these projects by such means as are consistentwith the 36 primary purposes of said project and to mitigate losses of and
1 improve conditions for the propagation of fish and wildlife in 2 connection with the development of the Fryingpan-Arkansas proj-3 ect. The Secretary is authorized to acquire lands and to with-4 draw public lands from entry or other disposition under the
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lie land laws for the construction, operation, and maintenance 6 of recreational facilities in connection with the said project, 7 and to dispose of them to Federal, State, and local governmental 8 agencies by lease, transfer, exchange, or conveyance, upon such 9 terms and conditions as will best promote their development and 10 operation in the public interest.11 (b) The costs, including the operation and maintenance 12 costs of all said undertakings, shall be nonreimbursable and non-13 returnable under the reclamation laws, and funds appropriated for 14 carrying out the authorization contained in section 1 of this 15 Act shall, without prejudice to the availability of other appro-16 priated moneys for the same purpose, also be available for carry-17 ing out the investigations and programs authorized in this sec-18 tion. All lands within the exterior boundaries of a national 19 forest acquired for recreational or other purposes in connection 20 with the Fryingpan-Arkansas project which are determined by the 21 Secretary of the Interior to be unnecessary for actual use for 22 purposes other than recreation shall become national forest 23 lands. The Secretary of the Interior shall make his determina-24 tion hereunder with respect to any tract of land within five years 25 from its acquisition by the United States. The authority to dis-26 pose of lands contained in subsection (a) of this section shall 27 not be exercised by the Secretary of the Interior with respect to 28 national forest lands without the concurrence of the Secretary of 29 Agriculture.
30 SEC. 7. {a) The use of water diverted from the Colorado River 31 to the Arkansas River Basin through works~ constructed under
32 authority of this Act shall be subject to and controlled by the 33 Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, 34 the Boulder Canyon Project Act, and the Mexican Water Treaty 35 {Treaty Series 994), as hereinbefore provided, and shall be in-36 eluded within and shall in no way increase the total quantity of
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1 water to the use of which the State of Colorado is entitled and 2 limited under said compacts, statute, and treaty, and every con-3 tract entered into under this Act for the storage, use and de-4 livery of such water shall so recite.
5 (b) All works constructed under authority of this Act,
6 and all officers, employees, permittees, licensees, and con-7 tractees of the United States and of the State of Colorado act-8 ing pursuant thereto, and all users and appropriators of water 9 of the Colorado River system diverted or delivered through the 10 works constructed under authority of this Act and any enlarge-11 ments or additions thereto shall observe and be subject to said 12 compacts, statute, and treaty, as hereinbefore provided, in the 13 diversion, delivery, and use of water of the Colorado system, and 14 such condition and covenant shall attach as a matter of law
15 whether or not set out or referred to in the instrument evidenc-16 ing such permit, license, or contract and shall be deemed to be 17 for the benefit of and be available to the States of Arizona, 18 California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming and 19 the users of water therein or thereunder by way of suit, defense,
20 or otherwise in any litigation respecting the waters of the Colo-21 rado River system.
22 (c) None of the waters of the Colorado River system
23 shall be exported from the natural basin of that system by means 24 of works constructed under authority of this Act, or extensions 25 and enlargements of such works, to the Arkansas River Basin for 26 consumptive use outside of the State of Colorado, and no such 27 waters shall be made available for consumptive use in any State 28 not a party to the Colorado River Compact by exchange or substi-29 tution; nor shall the obligations of the State of Colorado under 30 the provisions of the Arkansas River Compact (63 Stat. 145) be 31 altered by any :operations of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project.
32 (d) No right or claim of right to the use of the waters 33 of the Colorado River system shall be aided or prejudiced by this 34 Act, and the Congress does not, by its enactment, construe or in-35 terpret any provision of the Colorado River Compact, the Upper 36 Colorado River Basin Compact, the Boulder Canyon Project Act, or
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1 the Mexican Water Treaty or subject the United States to, or 2 approve or disapprove any interpretation of, said compacts, 3 statute, or treaty, anything in this Act to the contrary not-4 withstanding.
5 (e) In the operation and maintenance of all
facili-6 ties under the jurisdiction and supervision of the Secretary of 7 the Interior authorized by this Act, the Secretary of the In-8 terior is directed to comply with the applicable provisions of 9 the Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Com-10 pact, the Boulder Canyon Project Act, the Boulder Canyon Project 11 Adjustment Act, the Colorado River Storage Project Act and the 12 Treaty with the United Mexican States, in the storage and re-13 lease of waters from reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin, and 14 to comply with the laws of the State of Colorado relating to the 15 control, appropriation, use, and distribution of water. In the 16 event of the failure of the Secretary of the Interior to so com-17 ply, any State of the Colorado River Basin may maintain an ac-18 tion in the Supreme Court of the United States to enforce the 19 provisions of this section and consent is given to the joinder 20 of the United States as a party in such suit or suits, as a 21 defendant or otherwise, and any person or entity whose rights 22 may be affected, impaired or infringed upon by reason or as a 23 result of such noncompliance, may maintain an action, suit or 24 proceeding in the United States District Court in and for the 25 District of Colorado seeking appropriate relief, and consent is 26 hereby given to the joinder of the United States, the Secretary 27 of the Interior and his subordinate officials, employees and 28 agents as a party or parties to such action, suit or proceeding, 29 as a defendant or otherwise.
30 SEC. 8. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated for 31 construction of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project (exclusive of ex-32 penditures provided for in section 2 (e) of this Act) the sum of 33 $160,000,000 (based upon October 1956 prices), plus or minus such 34 amounts, if any, as may be justified by reason of ordinary fluc-35 tuations in construction costs as indicated by engineering cost 36 indexes applicable to the type of construction involved herein.
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1 There are also authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 2 required for operation and maintenance of the project and for 3 expenditures as provided in section 2 (e) of this Act.
