'
A BILL
To authorize the construction, operation, and maintenance by the Secretary of the Interior of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project, Colorado.
As Revised by Policy and Review Committee, State of Colorado, January 29, 1959.
1 Be
1i
Enacted~ the Senate and House of Representatives.Qf
2 ~ 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-s
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 ai~endatory thereof or supplementary 11 thereto, as far as those laws are not inconsistent with the pro• 12 visions of this Act and subjec~ to the apportionments of the use 13 of water fixed in the Colorado River compact and the Upper Colo~ 14 rado River Basin compact and to the terms of the Boulder Canyon 15 Project Act and to the terms of the United States-Mexico Water 16 Treaty of 1944 (Treaty Series 994), is hereby authorized to con-17 struct, operate, and maintain the Fryingpan-Arkansas project, 18 Colorado, in substantial accordance with the engineering plans 19 therefor set forth in House Document Numbered 187, Eighty-third20 Congress, first session, but with such modifications of, omis· 21 sions from, or additions to the works therein described as the 22 Secretary may from time to time, find necessary or proper for 23 accomplishing the objectives of the project: Provided, however, 24 That said plans shall not include the construction of a reservoir 25 on the Roaring Fork River at the Aspen site, but shall include 26 the construction of a reservoir at the Ruedi site on the Frying• 27 pan··River of a capacity of approximately 100,000 acre feet,
28 and/or at such other site or sites as may be agreeable to the 29 Colorado River Water Conservation District or the State of Colo-30 rado: Provided further, That such modifications or additions as 31 may be required in connection therewith shall not extend to or
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-1-1 contemplate the so-called Gunnison-Arkansas project.
2 SEC. 2. (a) Contracts to repay that portion of the cost of the 3 Fryingpan-Arkansas project which is allocated to irrigation and 4 assigned to be repaid by irrigation water users (exclusive of such 5 portion of said cost as may be derived from temporary water supply 6 contracts or from other sources) shall be entered into pursuant to 7 subsection (d), section 9, of the Reclamation Project Act of
8 1939 {53 Stat. 1187), and may provide that the general repayment 9 obligation shall be spread in annual installments, which may be 10 varied as to any required annual payment in the light of economic 11 factors affecting the ability of the contracting organization to 12 pay and of water supply and water requirement conditions, but in 13 number and amounts satisfactory to the Secretary, over a period 14 of not more than sixty years, commencing with the completion of 15 project construction, for any project contract unit or for any 16 irrigation block, if the project contract unit be divided into 17 two or more irrigation blocks.
18 (b) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, 19 net revenues derived from the sale of commercial power and from
20 the furnishing of water for municipal, domestic, and industrial 21 uses shall first be applied to the amortization, with interest, 22 of those portions of the actual cost of construction of the project
23 which are allocated, respectively, to commercial power and to 24 municipal, domestic, and industrial water supply and shall there-25 after be applied to amortization of that portion of said actual 26 cost which is allocated to irrigation but which is beyond the 27 ability of the irrigation water users to return during the period 28 hereinbefore specified. The interest rate on the unamortized 29 balance of the commercial power and the municipal, domestic, and 30 industrial water supply allocations shall be determined by the 31 Secretary of the Treasury as of the time moneys are first made 32 available for initiating construction of the project. It shall
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33 determined by calculating the average yield to maturity, on the 34 basis of the closing market bid quotations during the month of 35 June next preceding the fiscal year in which said moneys are made 36 available, of all interest-bearing marketable public debt obliga-37 tions of the United States having a maturity date of fifteen or-2-J
1 more years from the first day of said month and by adjusting such 2 average annual yield to the nearest one-eighth of 1 per centum. 3 (c) No part of the specific municipal water-supply systems 4 described in House Document Numbered 187, Eighty-third Congress, 5 shall be constructed by the Secretary in the absence of evidence 6 satisfactory to him that it would be infeasible for the communi-7 ties involved to construct such works themselves, singly or
8 jointly. In the event it is determined that such facilities are 9 to be constructed by the Secretary, a contract providing, among 10 other things, for payment of the actual cost thereof with in-11 terest and repayment period as hereinbefore provided, and as 12 rapidly as is consistent with the contracting parties' ability 13 to pay, and for assumption by the contracting party or parties 14 of the care, operation, maintenance, and replacement of the works 15 shall be a condition precedent thereto.
16 (d) In conformity with the provisions of subsections (a), 17 (b), and (c) of this section, the Secretary, prior to the de-18 livery of project water supplies, shall have entered in a 19 contract, or contracts, with "organizations" as defined in
para-20 graph 2 (g) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 1187) 21 which have the capacity to levy assessments upon all taxable real 22 property located within their boundaries to assist in making re-23 payments.
24 (e) The Secretary is authorized to enter into an agreement
25 with any public school district serving an area affected by con-26 struction of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project pursuant to which 27 there will be paid to the district, annuallly or semiannually, 28 from appropriations made for construction of the project an 29 amount substantially equal to the average per pupil cost of 30 operating the district's schools during the school year or term 31 for which payment is made, multiplied by the average number of 32 pupils then enrolled in those schools who are dependents of per-33 sons brought into the project area for project construction 34 activities. This amount, however, shall be diminished by any 35 payments made or anticipated to be made to the district pursuant
. 36 to the Act of September 307 1950, as heretofore or hereafter
-3-2 ther· the contributions to the school districts in the amount of \
3 tax revenues received by the districts by reason of project 4 activities. The Secretary may advance a reasonable portion of 5 the amount estimated to become payable under any such agreement 6 during the then current or ensuing school year or term, but any 7 amount so advanced shall be subject to adjustment after the close 8 of the year or term if it does not fully cover, or if it more 9 than covers, the amount to which the district is found to be 10 entitled under the first three sentences of this subsection. 11 The Secretary is further authorized, without duplicating assist-12 ance to which any such district may be entitled under the Act of 13 September 23, 1950, as heretofore or hereafter amended (20 U.S.
14 C., ch. 14), to make available funds or facilities to provide 15 space in which to carry on educational and related activities. 16 (f) The obligation of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project to 17 repay the costs of the Ruedi Reser~oir, or any reservoir construct-18 ed in lieu thereof, from any revenues available to the project 19 shall be limited to the sum of $7,600,000. The remaining cost of
20 such reservoir shall be reimbursable from the sale of water for 21 industrial, municipal and agricultural uses: Provided, however, 22 That any part of such remaining cost not covered by contracts
23 entered into within ten years from the date of completion of the 24 reservoir shall be reimbursable from Colorado's share of the Upper 25 Colorado River Basin Fund (70 Stat. 107).
26 SEC. 3. The Fryingpan-Arkansas project shall be operated under 27 the direction of the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with 28 the operating principles set forth on pages 36-39 of House Docu-29 ment Numbered 187, Eighty-third Congress: Provided, That, with 30 respect to the requirement set out in such operating principles 31 that the project be operated so as not to impair priority uses of
32 water in western Colorado under State law.
-4-1 The Secretary may appoint the two representatives of the United 2 States to the Commission referred to in paragraph 17 of said
3 principles and may adopt modification thereof upon the recommend-4 ation of the Commission: Provided, That such recommendations are 5 made and adopted by said Commission in conformity to the provi-6 sions of paragraph 17 of said operating principles.
7 SEC. 4. Any and all benefits and rights of western Colorado 8 water users in and to water stored in the Green Mountain Reser-9 voir, Colorado-Big Thompson project, as described, set forth 10 and defined in Senate Document Numbered 80, Seventy-fifth Con-11 gress, first session, shall not be impaired, prejudiced, abro-12 gated, nullified, or diminished in any manner whatever by reason 13 of the authorization, construction, OP,eration, and maintenance 14 of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project authorized by this Act.
15 SEC. 5. In the determination of the priorities of water to be 16 used under the provisions of this Act, the provisions of the laws 17 of the State of Colorado shall apply. The Ruedi Reservoir shall 18 be so operated that there is no impairment of existing uses of 19 water in the State of Colorado under any present appropriation .. 20 SEC. 6. The Secretary is authorized to plan, construct, opera-21 ate, and maintain public recreational facilities on lands with-22 drawn or acquired for the development of the Fryingpan-Arkansas 23 project, to conserve the scenery, the natural, historic, and 24 archeologic objects and the wildlife on said lands, and to pro-25 vide for public use and enjoyment of the same and of the water 26 areas created by these projects by such means as are consistent 27 with the primary purposes of said project and to mitigate losses
-5-2 in 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
pub-s
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: Provided, That all lands within 11 the exterior boundaries of a national forest acquired for recrea-12 tional or other project purposes which are not determined by the 13 Secretary of the Interior to be needed for actual use in connec-14 tion with the reclamation works shall become national forest15 lands: Provided further, That the Secretary of the Interior shall 16 make his determination hereunder with respect to any tract of
17 land within five years after its acquisition by the Unite~ States: 18 Provided further, That the authority contained in this section 19 shall not be exercised by the Secretary of the Interior with 20 respect to national forest lands without the concurrence of the 21 Secretary of Agriculture. The costs, including the operation and 22 maintenance costs of all said undertakings, shall be nonreimburs-23 able and nonreturnable under the reclamation laws, and funds appro-24 priated for carrying out the authorization contained in section 1 25 of this Act shall, without prejudice to the availability of other 26 appropriated moneys for the same purpose, also be available for 27 carrying out the investigations and programs authorized in this 28 section.
29 SEC. 7. (a) The use of water diverted from the Colorado River 30 to the Arkansas River Basin through works constructed under author-31 ity of this Act shall be subject to and controlled by the Colorado 32 River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, the Boulder 33 Canyon Project Act, and the Mexican Water Treaty (Treaty Series 34 994), as hereinbefore provided, and shall be included within and 35 shall in no way increase the total quantity of water to the use of 36 which the State of Colorado is entitled and limited under said
-6-1 compacts, statute, and treaty, and every contract entered into
2 under this Act for the storage, use, and delivery of such water
3 shall so recite.
4 (b) All works constructed under authority of this Act, and
5 all officers, employees, permittees, licensees, and contractees
6 of the United States and of the State of Colorado acting
pursu-7 ant thereto, and all users and appropriators of water of the
8 Colorado River system diverted or delivered through the works
9 constructed under authority of this Act and any enlargements or
10 additions thereto shall observe and be subject to said compacts,
11 statute, and treaty, as hereinbefore provided, in the diversion,
12 delivery, and use of water of the Colorado system, and such
condi-13 tion and covenant shall attach as a matter of law whether or not
14 set out or referred to in the instrument evidencing such permit,
15 license, or contract and shall be deemed to be for the benefit of
16 and be available to the States of Arizona, California, Colorado,
17 Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming and the users of water
18 therein or thereunder by way of suit, defense, or otherwise in
19 any litigation respecting the waters of the Colorado River system.
20 (c) None of the waters of the Colorado River system shall
21 be exported from the natural basin of that system by means of
22 works constructed under authority of this Act, or extensions and
23 enlargements of such works, to the Arkansas River Basin for
con-24 sumptive use outside of the State of Colorado, and no such waters
25 shall be made available for consumptive use in any State not a
26 party to the Colorado River Compact by exchange or substitution;
27 nor shall the obligations of the State of Colorado under the
pro-28 visions of the Arkansas River Compact (63 Stat. 145) be altered
29 by any operations of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project.
30 (d) No right or claim of right to the use of the waters of
31 the Colorado River system shall be added or prejudiced by this Act,
32 and the Congress does not, by its enactment, construe or
inter-33 pret any provision of the Colorado River Compact, the Upper
Colo-34 rado River Basin Compact, the Boulder Canyon Project Act, or the
35 Mexican Water Treaty or subject the United States to, or approve
36 or disapprove any interpretation of, said compacts, statute, or
-7-1 treaty, anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.
2 (e) In the operation and maintenance of all facilities under
3 the jurisdiction and supervision of the Secretary of the Interior 4 authorized by this Act, the Secretary of the Interior is directed
5 to comply with the applicable provisions of the Colorado River 6 Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, the Boulder
Can-7 yon Project Act, the Boulder Canyon Project Acljustment Act, the
8 Colorado River Storage Project Act and the Treaty with the United
9 Mexican States, in the storage and release of waters from reser-10 voirs in the Colorado River Basin, and to comply with the laws of 11 the State of Colorado relating to the control, appropriation, use,
12 and distribution of water. In the event of the failure of the
13 Secretary of the Interior to so comply, any State of the Colorado 14 River Basin may maintain an action in the Supreme Court of the
15 United States to enforce the provisions of this section and
con-16 sent is given to the joinder of the United States as a party in
17 such suit or suits, as a defendant or otherwise.
18 SEC. 8. The Secretary of the Interior is directed to institute
19 studies and to make a report to the Congress and to the States of
20 the Colorado River Basin of the effect upon the quality of water
21 available at Lee Ferry, of all transmountain diversions of water
22 of the Colorado River system proposed to be made in the upper
23 Colorado River Basin including those proposed to be made under the
24 authority of this Act.
25 SEC. 9. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated for
26 construction of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project (exclusive of,
ex-27 penditures provided for in section 2 (e) of this Act) the sum of
28 $160,000,000 (based upon October 1956 prices), plus or minus such
29 amounts, if any, as may be justified by reason of ordinary
fluc-30 tuations in construction costs as indicated by engineering cost
31 indexes applicable to the type of construction involved herein.
32 There are also authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be
33 required for operation and maintenance of the project and for
ex-34 penditures as provided in section 2(e) of this Act.
