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Union Calendar No.
1002
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8t5THCONGRESS 2o SESSION
H R
13523
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[Report No. 2427]
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 24, 1958
~fr. C11F.NOWETH introduced the following bill; which was refE>rred to the Com-mittee on Interior and Insular Affairs
AUGUST 4, 1958
Committed to the Committee of the Wbole House on the State of the Unio11 and ordered to be printed
A BILL
'ro authorize the construction, operation, and maintenance by
the Secretary of the Interior of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project, Colorado.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 That, for the purpose of supplying water for irrigation,
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4 municipal, domestic, and industrial uses, generating and
5 transmitting hyd1:oelectric power and energy, controlling
6 floods, providing for the preservation and propagation of
7 fish and wildlife, and preserving and improving recreational
8 facilities, and for other useful and beneficial purposes, 9 the Secretary of the Interior, a~ting pursuant to the Federal
10 reclamation laws, Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388),
1 and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, as 2 far as those laws are not inconsistent with the provisions 3 of this Act and subject to the apportionments of the use of 4 water fixed in the Colorado River compact and the Upper 5 Colorado River Basin compact and to the terms of the 6 Boulder Canyon Project Act and to the terms of the United
7 States-Mexico Water Treaty of 1944 (Treaty Series 994), 8 is hereby authorized to con&truct, operate, and maintain 9 the Fryingpan-Arkansas project, Colorado, in substantial 10 accordance with the engineering plans therefor set forth in 11 House Document Numbered 187, Eighty-third Congress, 12 first session, but with such modifications of, omissions from, 13 or additions to the works therein described as the Secretary 14 may, from time to time, find necessary or proper for accom-15 plishing the objectives of the project: Provided, however, 16 That such modifications or additions as may be found nec-17 essary and such investigations as may be required in con-18 nection therewith shall not extend to or contemplate the 19 so-called Gunnison.: Arkansas project, nor shall any of the 20 works together with any modifications or additions provide 21 for the diversion transmountain of more than 112,500 acre-22 feet of water from the natural basin of the Colorado River in 23 any one year or more than an aggregate .of 2,352,800 acre-24 feet in any period of thirty-four consecutive years, and nothing 25 in this Act shall constitute a commitment, real or implied, to
1 the further exportation of water from the Colorado River 2 System: Provided further, That the quantitative limitations 3 on the diversion of water hereinbefore set out shall be
ex-4 elusive of diversion, as provided in House Document N um-5 bered 187, Eighty-third Congress, for the preservation and 6 propagation of fishlif e. There shall be included as a feature
7 of the project a storage reservoir on the Fryingpan River or 8 a tributary thereof of such capacity and at such location as, 9 in the judgment of the Secretary, will assist in the
preserva-10 tion and propagation of the fishlif e of the Fryingpan River.
11 SEC. 2. (a) Contracts to repay that portion of the cost
12 of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project which is allocated to 13 irrigation and assigned to be repaid by irrigation water users 14 ( exclusive of such portion of said cost as may be derived 15 from temporary water supply contracts or from other 16 sources) shall be entered into pursuant to subsection ( d) , 17 section 9, of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 18 1187) , and may provide that the general repayment obli-19 gation shall be spread in annual installments, which may 20 be varied as to any required annual payment in the light 21 of economic factors affecting the ability of the contracting 22 organization to pay and of water supply and water require-23 ment conditions, but in number and amounts satisfactory to 24 the Secretary, over a period of not more than sixty years·, 25 which period shall be inclusive of any permissible develop.:.
1 ment period, for any project contract unit or for any irri-2 gation block, if the project contract unit be divided into two 3 or more irrigation blocks.
4 (b) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the con-5 trary, net revenues derived from the sale of commercial 6 power and from the fmnishing of water for municipal, 7 domestic, and industrial uses shall first be applied to the 8 amortization, with interest, of those portions of the a.ctual 9 cost of construction of the project which are allocated, 10 respectively, to commercial power and to municipal, domes-11 tic, and industrial water supply and shall thereafter be· 12 applied to amortization of that portion of said actual cost 13 which is allocated to irrig3:tion hut which is beyond the 14 ability of the irrigation water users to return during the 15 period hereinhefore specified. The interest rate on the 16 unamortized balance of the commercial power and the 17 municipal, domestic, and industrial water supply allocations 18 shall he determined by the Secretary of the Treasm·y as of 19 the time moneys are first made available for initiating con-20 struction of the project. It shall he determined by calculat-21 ing the average yield to maturity, on the basis of the 22 closing market bid quotations dming the month of June 23 next preceding the fiscal year in which. said moneys are 24 made available, of all interest-bearing marketable public 25 debt obligations of the United States having a maturity date
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1 of fifteen or more years from the first day of said month 2 and by adjusting such average annual yield to the nearest 3 one-eighth of 1 per centum.
4: ( c) No part of the specific municipal water-supply sys-5 terns described in House Document Numbered 187, Eighty-6 third Congress, shall be constructed by the Secretary in 7 the absence of evidence satisfactory to him that it would 8 be infeasible for the communities involved to construct such 9 works themselves, singly or jointly. In the event it is de-10 termined that such facilities are to be constructed by the 11 Secretary, a contract providing, among other things, for 12 payment of the actual cost thereof with interest and repay-13 ment period a.s hereinbefore provided, a.nd as rapidly a1 is 14 consistent with the contracting parties' a.bility to pay, and 15 for assumption by the contrnctiug party or parties of the 16 care, operation, maintenance, and replacement of the works 17 shall be a condition precedent thereto.
18 ( d) Iu conformity with the provisions of snbseetions
19 (a.), (b), and (c) of this sectiou, the Secretary, prior to 20 the delivery of project water supplies, shall have entered into 21 a contract, or contracts, with "organizations" as defined in 22 paragraph 2 (g) of the Recla.mation Project Act of 1939 23 (53 Stat. 1187) which have the capacity to levy assessments 24 upon all taxable real property located within their boundaries
1 ( e) The Secretary is authorized to enter into an agree-2 ment with any public school district serving an area affected 3 by constn1ction of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project pursuant 4 to which there will be paid to the district, annually or semi-5 annually, from appropriations made for construction of the 6 project an amount substantially equal to the average per
7 pupil cost of operating the district's schools during the school 8 year or term for which payment is made, multiplied by the 9 average number of pupils then enrolled in those schools who 10 are dependents of persons brought into the project area for 11 project construction activities. This amount, however, shall 12 be diminished by any payments made or anticipated to be 13 made to the district pursuant to the Act of September 30, 14 1950, as heretofore or hereafter amended (20 U. S. C., 15 ch. 13). The Secretary shall reduce further the contribu-16 tions to the school distiicts in the amount of the tax revenues 17 received by the districts by reason of project activities. The 18 Secretary may advance a reasonable portion of the amount 19 estimated to become payable under any such agreement 20 during the then cun-ent or ensuing school year or term, 21 but any amount so advanced shall be subject to adjustment 22 after the close of the year or teim if it does not fully cover,
23 or if it more than covers, the amount to which the district is 24 found to be entitled under the first three sentences of this
dupli-7
1 eating assistance to which any such district may be entitled 2 under the Act of September 23, 1950, as heretofore or here-3 after amended (20 U. S. 0., ch. 14), to make available 4 funds or facilities to provide space in which to carry on
educa-5 tional and related activities.
6 SEC. 3. The Fryingpan-Arkansas project shall be
op-7 erated under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior
8 in accordance with the operating principles set forth on pages 9 3&-39 of House Document Numbered 187, Eighty-third
10 Congress: Provided, That, with respect to the requirement
11 set out in such operating principles that the project be
12 operated so as not to impair priority uses of water under 13 State law in western Colorado, and the additional
require-14 ment, hereby imposed, that the project be so operated as not
15 to deprive graziers on lands situated in the Roaring Fork or
16 Fryingpan River Basins, administered by the Bureau of
17 Land 1tianagement or the Forest Service, of so much of the
18 water which now reaches those lands as is reasonably
neces-19 sary to support grazing operations thereon, the burden of
20 proof that such western Colorado uses are not impaired shall
21 lie with the water users of the Arkansas Valley benefiting
22 from the project. The Secretary may appoint the two
repre-23 sentatives of the United States to the Commission referred to 24 in paragraph 17 of said principles and may adopt
1 Provided, That such recommendations are made and adopted 2 by said Commission in conformity to the provisions of para-3 graph 17 of said operating principles.
4 SEC. 4. Any and all benefits and rights of western Colo-5 rado water users in and to water stored in the Green Moun-6 tain Reservoir, Colorado-Big Thompson project, as described, 7 set forth and defined in Senate Document Numbered 80, 8 Seventy-fifth Congress, first session, shall not be impaired, 9 prejudiced, abrogated, nullified, or diminished in any manner 10 whatever by reason of the authorization, construction, opera-11 tion, and maintenance of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project 12 authorized by this Act.
13 SEC. 5. In the determination of the priorities of water 14 to be used under the provisions of this Act, the provisions 15 of the laws of the State of Colorado shall apply. The Aspen 16 Reservoir shall be so operated that there is no impairment 17 of existing uses of water in the State of Colorado under auy 18 present appropriation or of any prospective uses of water for 19 irrigation and other beneficial consumptive-use purposes, as 20 enumerated in the operating principles referred to in section 21 3 hereof, within the entire natural basin of the Colorado 22 River in western Colorado under appropriations made
pur-23 suant to the laws of said State.
24 SEC. 6. The Secretary is authorized to plan, construct,
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1 withdrawn or acquired for the development of the
Fryingpan-2 Arkansas project, to consen1e the scenery, the natural,
3 historic, and archeologic objects and the wildlife on said
4 lands, and to provide for public use and enjoyment of the
5 same and of the water areas created by these projects by
6 such means as are consistent with the primary purposes of 7 said project and to mitigate losses of and improve conditions
8 for the propagation of fish and wildlife in connection with
9 the development of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project. The
10 Secretary is authorized to acquire lands and to withdraw
11 public lands from entry or other disposition under the public
12 land laws for the construction, operation, and maintenance
13 of recreational facilities in connection with the said project,
14 and to dispose of them to Federal, State, and local
govern-15 mental agencies by lea.se, transfer, excha.nge, or conveyance,
16 upon such terms and conditions as will best promote their
17 development and operation in the public interest: Provided,
18 That all lands within the exterior boundaries of a national
19 forest acquired for reereationa.l or other project purposes 20 which are not determined by the Secretary of the Interior
21 to be needed for actual use in connection with the
reclama-22 tion works shall become national forest lands: Provided 23 further, That the Secretary of the Interior shall make his 24 determination hereunder with respect to any tract of land 25 within five years after its acquisition by the United States:
1 Provided further, That the authority contained in this section 2 shall not be exercised by the Secretary of the Interior with 3 respect to national forest lands without the concurrence of 4 the Secretary of Agriculture. The costs, including the opera-5 tion and maintenance costs of all said undertakings, shall be 6 nonreimbursable and nonreturnable under the reclamation 7 laws, and funds appropriated for carrying out the authoriza-8 tion contained in section 1 of this Act shall, without preju-9 dice to the availability of other appropriated moneys for the
10 same purpose, also be available for carrying out the
investi-11 gations and programs authorized in this section.
12 SEC. 7. (a) The use of water diverted from the Colo-13 rado River to the Arkansas River Basin through works con-14 structed under authority of this Act shall be subject to and 15 controlled by the Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colo-16 rado River Basin Compact, the Boulder Canyon Project Act, 17 and the Mexican Water Treaty ( Treaty Series 994) , as
18 hereinbefore provided, and shall be included within and shall 19 in no way increase the total quantity of water to the use of
20 which the State of Colorado is entitled and limited under
21 said compacts, statute, and treaty, and every contract entered
22 into under this Act for the storage, use, and delivery of such
23 water shall so recite.
24 (b) All works constructed under authority of this Act,
con-11
1 tractees of the United States and of the State of Colorado
2 acting pursuant thereto, and all users and appropriators of
3 water of the Colorado River system diverted or delivered 4 through the works constructed under authority of this Act
5 and any enlargements or additions thereto shall observe and
6 be subject to said compacts, statute, and treaty, as
herein-7 before provided, in the diversion, delivery, a.nd use of water
8 of the Colorado system, and such condition and covenant
9 shall attach as a matter of law whether or not set out or
10 referred to in the instrument evidencing such permit, license,
11 or contract and shall be deemed to be for the benefit of and 12 be available to the States of Arizona, California, Colorado,
13 Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming and the users 14 of water therein or thereunder by way of suit, defense, or
15 otherwise in any litigation respecting the waters of the
Colo-16 rado River system.
17 ( c) None of the waters of the Colorado River system 18 shall be exported from the natural basin of that system by
19 means of works constructed under authority of this Act, or
20 extensions and enlargements of such works, to the Arkansas 21 River Basin for consumptive use outside of the State of
22 Colorado, and no such waters shall be made available for
23 consumptive use in any State not a party to the Colorado
24 River Compact by exchange or substitution; nor shall the
1 the Arkansas River Compact ( 63 Stat. 145) be altered by
2 any operations of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project.
3 ( d) No right or claim of right to the use of the waters 4 of the Colorado River system shall be added or prejudiced
5 by this· Act, and the Congress does not, by its enactment,
6 construe or interpret any provision of the Colorado River
7 Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compaet, the
8 Boulder Canyon Project Act, or the Mexican Water Treaty 9 or subject the United States to, or approve or disapprove 10 any interpretation of, said compacts, statute, or treaty, 11 anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.
12 ( e) In the operation and maintenance of all
facili-13 ties under the jurisdiction and supervision of the Secretary of 14 the Interior authorized by this Act, the Secretary of the In-15 terior is directed to comply with the applicable provisions of
16 the Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River
17 Basin Compact, the Boulder Canyon Project Act, the Boulder 18 Canyon Project Adjustment Act, the Colorado River Storage
19 Project Act and the 'l'reaty with the United Mexican States,
20 in the storage and release of waters from reservoirs in the
21 Colorado River Basin, and to comply with the laws of the
22 State of Colorado relating to the control, appropriation, use, 23 and distribution of water. In the event of the failure of the
24 Secretary of the Interior to so comply, any State of the Colo-25 rado River Basin may maintain an action in the Supreme
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1 Court of the United States to enforce the provisions of this 2 section and consent is given to the joinder of the United States 3 as a party in such suit or suits, as a defendant or otherwise. 4 SEC. 8. The Secretary of the Interior is directed to in-5 stitute studies and to make a report to the Congress and to 6 the States of the Colorado River Basin of the effect upon 7 the quality of water available at Lee Ferry, of all trans-8 mountain diversions of water of the Colorado River system 9 proposed to be made in the upper Colorado River Basin
in-10 eluding those proposed to be made under the authority of
11 this Act.
12 SEC. 9. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated
13 for construction of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project (
exclu-14 sive of expenditures provided for in section 2 ( e) of this
15 Act) the sum of $160,000,000 (based upon October 1956
16 prices), plus or minus such amounts, if any, as may be
justi-17 fied by reason of ordinary fluctuations in construction costs as
18 indicated by engineering cost indexes applicable to the type
19 of construction involved herein. There are also authorized
20 to be appropriated such sums as may be required for
opera-21 tion and maintenance of the project and for expenditures as 22 provided in section 2 ( e) of this Act.
S&rHCONGRESB 2D SESSION
H R 13523
• e[Report No. 2427]
ABILL
To authorize the construction, operation, and maintenance by the Secretary of the Interior of the Fryingpan-Arkansas- project, Colo-rado.
By Mr. CHENOWETH JULY 24, 1958
Referred to the Committee on Interior and Insular A.trairs
AUGUST 4, 1958
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
