[House Report 115-532]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
115th Congress } { REPORT
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session } { 115-532
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SWAN LAKE HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT BOUNDARY CORRECTION ACT
_______
January 29, 2018.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Bishop of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted
the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 219]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 219) to correct the Swan Lake hydroelectric
project survey boundary and to provide for the conveyance of
the remaining tract of land within the corrected survey
boundary to the State of Alaska, having considered the same,
report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that
the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 219 is to correct the Swan Lake
hydroelectric survey boundary and to provide for the conveyance
of the remaining tract of land within the corrected survey
boundary to the State of Alaska.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
The Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project is a remote facility
located approximately 22 air miles northeast of Ketchikan,
Alaska.\1\ The facility is operated by the Southeast Alaska
Power Agency (SEAPA), a regional Joint Action Agency of the
State of Alaska.\2\ The Project was initiated by the State of
Alaska in 1980 and placed into service in 1984.\3\
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\1\SEAPA Hydro, ``Swan Lake Hydro Facility,'' Southeast Alaska
Power Agency, 2013. http://www.seapahydro.org/Swan-Lake-Hydro-
Facility.php.
\2\SEAPA Hydro, ``About Us,'' Southeast Alaska Power Agency, 2013.
http://www.seapahydro.org/about-us.php.
\3\Senate Report 115-98, https://www.congress.gov/congressional-
report/115th-congress/
senate-report/98/1.
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The Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project is comprised of an
elliptical concrete thin arch dam, 174 feet high and 430 feet
long at its crest.\4\ The corresponding reservoir has a usable
storage capacity of 86,000 acre feet and a surface area of
approximately 1,500 acres.\5\
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\4\SEAPA Hydro, ``Swan Lake Hydro Facility.'' http://
www.seapahydro.org/Swan-Lake-Hydro-Facility.php.
\5\SEAPA Hydro, ``Swan Lake Hydro Facility.'' http://
www.seapahydro.org/Swan-Lake-Hydro-Facility.php.
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The project's powerhouse contains two turbine generating
units with an installed capacity of 25 megawatts. The project
and associated facilities supply wholesale power to the
municipal utilities serving the cities of Petersburg, Wrangell,
and Ketchikan\6\ with a combined population of 19,395
residents.\7\
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\6\Information provided to the Committee by Representative Don
Young of Alaska's Office.
\7\Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Research
and Analysis Section, ``2016 Population Estimates by Borough, Census
Area, and Economic Region'' http://live.laborstats.alaska.gov/pop/.
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At the time the Project entered service, a future 15-foot
increase in reservoir elevation was anticipated as a second
phase to the Project, which would raise the elevation of the
reservoir from 330 feet to 345 feet (plus a 5-foot buffer).\8\
As a result, in 1994 the State of Alaska sought a land
selection of 1,500 acres of land inside the Tongass National
Forest, sufficient land to secure the inundation area of the
reservoir at the 350-foot elevation level. The land conveyance
from the federal government to the State of Alaska was granted
in 1997.
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\8\SEAPA Hydro, ``Swan Lake Reservoir Expansion'' Southeast Alaska
Power Agency, 2013. http://www.seapahydro.org/_exp/pdfs/White_Paper/
swl_white_paper.pdf.
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In 2012, SEAPA conducted a land survey of the reservoir
property as part of its due diligence before raising the height
of the dam to its final anticipated height of 345 feet. The
survey discovered an error in the 350-foot elevation contour on
reference maps utilized during the State selection process.\9\
The 2012 survey concluded raising the dam to its final
anticipated height would inundate an additional 25.8 acres of
federal land along one of Swan Lake's tributaries.\10\
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\9\SEAPA Hydro, ``Costs and Benefits Analysis for Increasing
Storage at Swan Lake,'' Southeast Alaska Power Authority, 2012. http://
www.seapahydro.org/_exp/pdfs/White_Paper/cost-benefit.pdf.
\10\SEAPA Hydro, ``Costs and Benefits Analysis for Increasing
Storage at Swan Lake,'' Southeast Alaska Power Authority, 2012. http://
www.seapahydro.org/_exp/pdfs/White_Paper/cost-benefit.pdf.
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There is no disagreement among the federal and State
agencies that the 25.8 acres of Forest Service lands currently
within the Project boundary remain within the Project boundary
solely due to an error in establishing lands to be transferred
to the State of Alaska in 1997.\11\
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\11\Information provided to the Committee by Representative Don
Young of Alaska's Office.
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H.R. 219 would correct the error by requiring the Secretary
of the Interior, after consultation with the Secretary of
Agriculture, to survey the exterior boundaries of the tract of
federal land within the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project
boundary and transfer the surveyed federal land within the
project to the State of Alaska.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1. Short Title. Provides that this Act may be cited
as the Swan Lake Hydroelectricity Project Boundary Correction
Act.
Section 2. Conveyance of Federal Land Within the Swan Lake
Hydroelectric Project Boundary. Directs the Secretary of the
Interior to consult with the Secretary of Agriculture and
survey the exterior boundaries of the federal land tract within
the boundaries of the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project within 18
months of the enactment of the legislation. Following
completion of the survey, the Secretary of the Interior is to
issue a patent for the land to the State of Alaska in
accordance with the survey and applicable federal laws.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 219 was introduced on January 3, 2017, by Congressman
Don Young (R-AK). The bill was referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee
on Federal Lands. On October 11, 2017, the Subcommittee held a
hearing on the legislation. On January 10, 2018, the Natural
Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee
was discharged by unanimous consent. No amendments were offered
and the bill was ordered favorably reported to the House of
Representatives by unanimous consent.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII AND CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT
1. Cost of Legislation and the Congressional Budget Act.
With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and (3) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
sections 308(a) and 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974, the Committee has received the following estimate for the
bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, January 26, 2018.
Hon. Rob Bishop,
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 219, the Swan Lake
Hydroelectric Project Boundary Correction Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Jeff LaFave.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall,
Director.
Enclosure.
H.R. 219--Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project Boundary Correction Act
H.R. 219 would direct the Department of the Interior to
conduct a survey of a 26-acre parcel of land within the
boundary of the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project in Alaska. The
bill also would require the federal government to convey the
parcel, which is currently under the jurisdiction of the U.S.
Forest Service, to the state of Alaska. Using information
provided by the affected agencies, CBO estimates that
implementing the bill would have not significant effect on the
federal budget. The parcel is not currently generating any
receipts for the Forest Service and it is not expected to do so
in the future.
Enacting H.R. 219 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO
estimates that enacting the bill would not increase net direct
spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive
10-year periods beginning in 2028.
On April 27, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S.
267, a bill to provide for the correction of a survey of
certain land in the state of Alaska, as ordered reported by the
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on March 30,
2017. The two bills are similar and the CBO's estimate of their
budgetary effects are the same.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The
estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
2. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to correct the Swan Lake
hydroelectric survey boundary and to provide for the conveyance
of the remaining tract of land within the corrected survey
boundary to the State of Alaska.
EARMARK STATEMENT
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5
Directed Rule Making. This bill does not contain any
directed rule makings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
If enacted, this bill would make no changes to existing
law.
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