APRIL 6, 1954
H. R. 4449, as amended to conform with legislation recommended by the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of the Budget with proposed additional amendments as shown.
83oCONGRESS lsT SESSION
H R
4449
•
•
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 2, 1953
Mr. DAWSON of Utah introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs
[Strike all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following language]
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Colorado River storage project and partici-pating projects, and for other purposes .
....
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-2 tives of the _United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 That, in order to initiate the comprehensive development of 4 the water resources of the Upper Colorado River Basin, the 5 Congress, in the exercise of its constitutional authority to 6 provide for the general welfare, to regulate commerce among
1 the States and with the Indian tribes, and to make all needful 2 rules and regulations respecting property belonging to the 3 United States, and for the purposes, among others, of regu-4 lating the flow of the Colorado River, storing water for bene-5 ficial consumptive use, making it possible for the States of 6 'the upper basin to utilize, consistently with the provisions 7 of the Colorado River Compact, the apportionments made to 8 and among them in the Colorado River Compact and the 9 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, respectively, pro-10 viding for the reclamation of arid and semiarid land, the 11 control of floods, the improvement of navigation, and the 12 generation of hydroelectric power as an incident of the fore-13 going purposes, hereby authorizes the Secretary of the In::__ 14 terior (herein called the Secretary) ( 1) to construct, operate, 15 and maintain the following initial units of the Colorado 16 River storage project, consisting of dams) reservoirs,
power-17 plants, transmission facilities, and appurtenant works: Echo 18 Park and Glen Canyon; and ( 2) to construct, operate, and 19 maintain the following additional reclamation projects (
in-20 eluding power generating and transmission facilities related 21 thereto) , hereinafter referred to as participating projects: 22 Central Utah (initial phase), Emery County, Florida, Ham-23 mond, LaBarge, Lyman, Paonia ( including the Minnes-0ta 24
unit, a dam and reservoir on Muddy Creek just above its 25
1 other necessary works) , Pine River Extension, Seedskadee, 2 Silt, and Smith Fork: P1·ovided, That the authority t6
OOft-3 stffiet construction of any participating project listed in the 4 foregoing clause ( 2) shall not become effecthTe be under-5 taken until the Secretary has reexamined the economic justi-6 fication of such project and, accompanied by appropriate
7 documentation in the form of a supplemental report, has
8 certified to the Congres -through and to the President that, 9 in his judgment, the benefits of such project will exceed its
10 costs. The Secretary's supplemental report for each such
11 project shall include, among ether things, (a) a reappraisal 12 of the prospective direct agricultural benefits of the project,
13 made by the Secretary
m
cooperation after consultation with14 the Secretary of Agriculture, and (b) a reevaluation of the
15 nondirect benefits of the project. Section 1 ( c) of the
16 Flood Control Act of 1944 (58 Stat. 887), shall:n t
b
,
17 applicable to such supplemental reports. rn o I . • • 'HI18 SEC. 2. In order to achieve such cdmpreh-ensiv d
velop-19 ment as will assure the consumptive se in, the.States;, of
tb
20 Upper Colorado River Basin of water f the Colorado 21 River ystem the use of which is apportioned to the Upper 22 Colorado River Ba .in by the Colorado River Compact, aria 23 to eacli State thereof by the Upper Colorado Ri'1"er Basin 24 Compact, it is the intent of the Oongres in. the Juture o 25 authorize the con truction,, operation~, and maintenance1 further units of the Colorado River storage project, of addi-2 tional phases of participating projects authorized in this Act, 3 and of new participating projects as additional information 4 becomes available and additional needs are indicated. It is 5 hereby declared to be the purpose of the Congress to author-6 ize as participating projects only projects (including units 7 or phases thereof) -8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
( 1) for the use, m one or more of the States designated in Article III of the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, of waters of the Upper Colorado River system the consumptive use of which is apportioned to those States by that article; and
( 2) for which pertinent data sufficient to determine their probable engineering and economic justification and feasibility shall be available.
16 It is likewise deelaa.ed -te he the policy
et
the Congress thftt 17 the oostset
ooy pa.rticipating project authorizedin
the futm·e 18 shaJl he amoriffied tF6ffi its ewn 1·01rnnues -te -the fullest extent 19 consiste~t with the provisionset
this Act and Federal 20 reclamation la-w,;.21 SEC. 3. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, in 22 constructing, operating, and maintaining the units of the
23 Colorado River storage project and the participating projects
24 listed in section 1 of this Act, the Secretary shall be
1 1902, 32 Stat. 388, and Acts amendatory thereof or supple-2 mentary thereto) : Provided, That (a) irrigation repayment 3 contracts shall be entered into which, except as otherwise
4 provided for the Paonia and Eden projects, provide for re-5 payment of the obligation as urned thereunder with respect
6 to any project contract unit oYer a period of not more than
7 fifty years exclusive of any development period authorized
8 by law; (b) prior to construction of irrigation distribution
9 facilities repayment contracts shall be made with an
"organi-10 zation" as defined in paragraph 2 (g) of the Reclamation 11 Project Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 1187, 43 U.S. 0. 485) which
12 has the capacity to levy as essments upon all taxable real
13 property located within its bonnda1i.es to assist in making
14 repayments, except where a substantial proportion of the
15 lands to be served are owned by the United States; ( c)
con-16 tracts relating· to municipal water supply may be made
with-17 out regard to the limitations of the last sentence of section 18 9 ( c) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939; and ( d) ,
19 as to Indian lands within, under or served by any
participat-20 ing project, payment of construction costs within the
capa-21 bility of the land to repay shall be subject to the Act of 22 July 1, 1932 ( 4 7 Stat. 564) . All units and participating
23 projects shall be subject to the apportionments of the use of
1 River and among the States of the Upper Basin fixed in the 2 Colorado River Compact and the Upper Colorado River 3 Basin Compact, respectively, and to the terms of the treaty 4 with the United Mexican States ( Treaty Series 994) .
5 SEC. 4. (a) There is hereby authorized a separate fund, 6 to be known as the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund (here-7 inafter referred to as the Ba~in Fund) , which shall remain 8 available until expended, as hcrei1ftcr provided, for carrying 9 out the provisions of this Act other than section 7.
10 (b) All appropriations made for the purpose of carry-11 ing out the provisions of this Act, other than section 7, shall 12 be credited to the Basin Fund as advances from the general 13 fund of the Treasury.
14 ( c) All revenues collected in connection with the op-15 eration of the Colorado River storage project and partici-16 pating projects shall be credited to the Basin Fund, and shall 17 be available, without further appropriation, for ( 1) defray-18 ing the costs of operation and maintenance of, and emer-19 gency expenditures for, all facilities of the Colorado River 20 storage project and participating projects, within such sepa-21 rate limitations as may be included in annual appropriation 22 acts, ( 2) payment as required by subsection ( d) of this sec-23 tion, ( 3) payment of the reimbursable construction costs of 24 the Paonia project which are beyond the ability of the water 25 users to repay within the period prescribed in the Act of June
1 25, 194 7 ( 61 Stat. 181}, said payment to be made within fifty
2 years after completion of that portion of the project which 3 has not been constructed as of the date of this Act, and ( 4)
4 payment in connection with the irrigation features of the 5 Eden project as specified in the Act of June 28, 1949 ( 63
6 Stat. 277) : P1'ovided, That revenues credited to the Basin 7 Fund shall not be available for appropriation for
construe-s
tion of the units and participating projects authorized by or9 pursuant to this Act.
10 ( d) Revenues in excess of operatipg needs shall oe paid
11 annually to the general fund of the Treasury to
return-12 ( 1) the costs of each unit, participating project, or 13 any separable feature thereof which are allocated to 14 commercial power pursuant to section 5 of this Act, 15 within a period not exceeding fifty years from the date
16 of completion of such unit, participating project, or 17 separable feature thereof;
18 ( 2) the costs of each unit, participati.ug- project, 19 or any separable feature thereof which are allocated to 20 municipal water supply pursuant to section 5 of this
21 Act, within a period not exceeding fifty years from
22 the date of completion of such unit, participating project, 23 or separable feature thereof;
24 ( 3) interest on the unamortized balance of the
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
commercial power and municipal water supply features of each unit, participating project, or any separable fea-ture 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, within a period not exceeding fifty years, in addition to any development period authorized by law, from the date of completion of such unit, participating project, or separable feature thereof, or, in the cases of the Paonia project and of Indian lands, within a period consistent with other provisions of law applicable thereto.
( e) The interest rate applicable to each unit of the stor -16 age project and each participating project shall be determined
17 by the Secretary of the Treasury as of the time the first
acl-18 vance is made for initiating construction of said unit or
proj-19 ect. Such interest rate shall be determined by calculating 20 the average yield to maturity on the basis of daily closing
21 market bid quotations during the month of June next pre-22 ceding the fiscal year for which said appropriation is enacted, 23 on all interest-bearing marketable public debt obligations of 24 the United States having a maturity date of fifteen or more
1 average annual yield to the nearest one-eighth of 1 per
2 centum.
3 (f) Business-type budgets shall be submitted to the
Con-4 gress annually for all operations financed by the Basin Fund.
5 SEC. 5. Upon completion of each unit, participating
6 project or separable feature thereof the Secretary shall
allo-7 cate the total costs ( excluding any expenditures anthorized
8 by section 7 of this Act) of conshucting said unit, project
9 or feature to power, irrigation, municipal water supply, flood
10 control, navigation, or any other purposes authorized under
11 reclamation law. Allocations of construction, operation and
12 maintenance costs to authorized nonreimbursable purposes
13 shall be nonreturnable under the provisions of this Act. On
14 January 1 of each year the Secretary shall report to the
15 Congress for the previous fiscal year, beginning with the
16 fiscal year 1955, upon the status of the revenues from and the
17 cost of constructing, operating, and maintaining the Colorado
18 River storage project and the participating projects. The
19 Secretary's report shall be prepared to reflect accurately the
20 Federal investment allocated at that time to power, to
irriga-21 tion, and to other purposes, the progress of return and
22 repayment thereon, and the estimated rate of progress, year
23 by year, in accomplishing full repayment.
24 SEC. 6. The hydroelectric power plants authorized by
1 the Secretary shall, to the extent fully consistent with the
2 purposes of this Act, the Colorado River Compact and the
3 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, be operated in
con-4 junction with other Federal power plants, present and
5 potential, so as to produce the greatest practicable amount 6 of power and energy that can be sold at firm power and 7 energy rates. Neither the impounding nor the use of water
8 for the generation of power and energy at the plants of the 9 Colorado River storage project shall preclude or impair the
10 appropriation for domestic or agricultural purposes, pursuant
11 to applicable State law, of ,vaters apportioned to the States
12 of the Upper Colorado River Basin. No contract or agre
e-13 ment for the sale of electric power generated at plants
14 authorized by this Act shall be made for a period of more
15 than ten years when such power is disposed of for use
16 outside the States of the Upper Colorado River Basin, unless
17 the Secretary of the Interior shall have determined that such
18 power is surplus to the probable needs in such States. All
19 other contracts for the sale of electric power pursuant to
20 this Act shall be for periods not to exceed forty years.
21 SEC. 7. In connection with the development of the
Col-22 orado River storage project and of the participating projects, 23 the Secretary is authorized and directed to investigate, plan,
24 construct, operate, and maintain ( 1) public recreational
l of said project or of said participating projects, to conserve
2 the scenery, the natural, historic, and archeologic objects, and
3 the wildlife on said lands, and to provide for public use and
4 enjoyment of the same and of the water areas created by
5 these projects by such means as are consistent with the
6 primary purposes of said projects; and ( 2) facilities to
miti-7 gate losses of and improve conditions for the propagation of
8 fish and wildlife. 'J..1he Secretary is authorized to acquire
9 lands and to withdraw public lands from entry or other
dis--10 position under the public lantl laws necessary for the
con-11 struction, operation, and maintenance of the facilities herein
12 provided, and to dispose of them to Federal, State, and local
13 governmental agencies by lease, transfer, exchange, or
con-14 veyance upon such terms and conditions as will best
pro-15 mote their development and operation in the public interest.
16 All costs incurred pursuant to this section shall be
nonreim-17 bursable and nonreturnable.
18 SEC. 8. Nothing contained m this Act shall be
con-19 strued to alter, amend, repeal, construe, interpret, modify,
20 or be in conflict with, any provision of the Boulder Canyon
21 Project Act ( 45 Stat. 1057), the Boulder Canyon Project
22 Adjustment Act ( 54 Stat. 77 4) , ·the Colorado River
Com-23 pact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, or the
24 Treaty with the United Mexican States ( Treaty Series 994) .
1 storage project may be made without regard to the soil sur-2 vey and land classification requirements of the Interior De-3 partment Appropriation Act, 1954.
4 SEC. 10. Construction of the pTojects herein authorized 5 shall proceed as rapidly as is consi tent with budgetary re-6 quirements and the economic needs of the country.
7 SEC. 11. There are hereby authorized to he appro-8 priated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise 9 appropriated, but not to exceed $950,000,000.
10 SEC. 12. 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 Wyo ming;
19 The term "Upper Colorado River Basin" shall have the
20 same meaning as the term "Upper Basin" ;
21 The term "Upper Colorado River Basin Compact" shall 22 mean that certain compact executed on October 11, 1948,
23 by commissioners representing the States of Arizona, Colo-24 rado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, and consented to
1 by the Congress of the United States of America by A.ct 2 of April 6, 1949 ( 63 Stat. 31) ; and
· 3 The term "treaty with the United Mexican States"
4 shall mean that certain treaty between the United States 5 of America and the United :Mexican States signed at Wash-6 ington, District of Columbia, February 3, 1944, relating
7 to the utilization of the waters of the Colorado River and
8 other rivers, as amended and supplemented by the protocol 9 dated November 14, 1944, and the understandings recited
10 in the Senate resolution of April 18, 1945, advising and
11 consenting to ratification thereof.
A.mend the title so as to read: "A. bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain initial units of the Colorado River storage project and par-ticipating projects, · and for other purposes."
