[106th Congress Public Law 392]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
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[DOCID: f:publ392.106]
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UPPER COLORADO AND SAN JUAN RIVER BASINS ENDANGERED FISH RECOVERY
PROGRAMS
[[Page 114 STAT. 1602]]
Public Law 106-392
106th Congress
An Act
To authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to provide cost sharing for the
endangered fish recovery implementation programs for the Upper Colorado
and San Juan River Basins. <<NOTE: Oct. 30, 2000 - [H.R. 2348]>>
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to authorize and provide funding for the
Bureau of Reclamation to continue the implementation of the endangered
fish recovery implementation programs for the Upper Colorado and San
Juan River Basins in order to accomplish the objectives of these
programs within a currently established time schedule.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) The term ``Recovery Implementation Programs'' means the
intergovernmental programs established pursuant to the 1988
Cooperative Agreement to implement the Recovery Implementation
Program for the Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado
River dated September 29, 1987, and the 1992 Cooperative
Agreement to implement the San Juan River Recovery
Implementation Program dated October 21, 1992, and as they may
be amended by the parties thereto.
(2) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the
Interior.
(3) The term ``Upper Division States'' means the States of
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
(4) The term ``Colorado River Storage Project'' or ``storage
project'' means those dams, reservoirs, power plants, and other
appurtenant project facilities and features authorized by and
constructed in accordance with the Colorado River Storage
Project Act (43 U.S.C. 620 et seq.).
(5) The term ``capital projects'' means planning, design,
permitting or other compliance, pre-construction activities,
construction, construction management, and replacement of
facilities, and the acquisition of interests in land or water,
as necessary to carry out the Recovery Implementation Programs.
(6) The term ``facilities'' includes facilities for the
genetic conservation or propagation of the endangered fishes,
those for the restoration of floodplain habitat or fish passage,
those for control or supply of instream flows, and those for the
removal or translocation of nonnative fishes.
[[Page 114 STAT. 1603]]
(7) The term ``interests in land and water'' includes, but
is not limited to, long-term leases and easements, and long-term
enforcement, or other agreements protecting instream flows.
(8) The term ``base funding'' means funding for operation
and maintenance of capital projects, implementation of recovery
actions other than capital projects, monitoring and research to
evaluate the need for or effectiveness of any recovery action,
and program management, as necessary to carry out the Recovery
Implementation Programs. Base funding also includes annual
funding provided under the terms of the 1988 Cooperative
Agreement and the 1992 Cooperative Agreement.
(9) The term ``recovery actions other than capital
projects'' includes short-term leases and agreements for
interests in land, water, and facilities; the reintroduction or
augmentation of endangered fish stocks; and the removal,
translocation, or other control of nonnative fishes.
(10) The term ``depletion charge'' means a one-time
contribution in dollars per acre-foot to be paid to the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service based on the average annual new
depletion by each project.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION TO FUND RECOVERY PROGRAMS.
(a) Authorization of Appropriations for Federal Participation in
Capital Projects.--(1) There is hereby authorized to be appropriated to
the Secretary, $46,000,000 to undertake capital projects to carry out
the purposes of this Act. Such funds shall be considered a
nonreimbursable Federal expenditure.
(2) The authority of the Secretary, acting through the Bureau of
Reclamation, under this or any other provision of law to implement
capital projects for the Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered
Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin shall expire in fiscal
year 2005 unless reauthorized by an Act of Congress.
(3) <<NOTE: Expiration date.>> The authority of the Secretary to
implement the capital projects for the San Juan River Basin Recovery
Implementation Program shall expire in fiscal year 2007 unless
reauthorized by an Act of Congress.
(b) Cost of Capital Projects.--The total costs of the capital
projects undertaken for the Recovery Implementation Programs receiving
assistance under this Act shall not exceed $100,000,000 of which--
(1) costs shall not exceed $82,000,000 for the Recovery
Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper
Colorado River Basin through fiscal year 2005; and
(2) costs shall not exceed $18,000,000 for the San Juan
River Recovery Implementation Program through fiscal year 2007.
The amounts set forth in this subsection shall be adjusted by the
Secretary for inflation in each fiscal year beginning after the
enactment of this Act.
(c) Non-Federal Contributions to Capital Projects.--(1) The
Secretary, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation, may accept
contributed funds from the Upper Division States, or political
subdivisions or organizations with the Upper Division States, pursuant
to agreements that provide for the contributions to be used
[[Page 114 STAT. 1604]]
for capital projects costs. Such non-Federal contributions shall not
exceed $17,000,000.
(2) In addition to the contribution described in paragraph (1), the
Secretary of Energy, acting through the Western Area Power
Administration, and the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the
Bureau of Reclamation, may utilize power revenues collected pursuant to
the Colorado River Storage Project Act to carry out the purposes of this
subsection. Such funds shall be treated as reimbursable costs assigned
to power for repayment under section 5 of the Colorado River Storage
Project Act. This additional contribution shall not exceed $17,000,000.
Such funds shall be considered a non-Federal contribution for the
purposes of this Act. The funding authorized by this paragraph over any
2-fiscal-year period shall be made available in amounts equal to the
contributions for the same 2-fiscal-year period made by the Upper
Division States pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) The additional funding provided pursuant to paragraph (2) may be
provided through loans from the Colorado Water Conservation Board
Construction Fund (37-60-121 C.R.S.) to the Western Area Power
Administration in lieu of funds which would otherwise be collected from
power revenues and used for storage project repayments. The Western Area
Power Administration is authorized to repay such loan or loans from
power revenues collected beginning in fiscal year 2012, subject to an
agreement between the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Western
Area Power Administration, and the Bureau of Reclamation. The agreement
and any future loan contracts that may be entered into by the Colorado
Water Conservation Board, the Western Area Power Administration, and the
Bureau of Reclamation shall be negotiated in consultation with Salt Lake
City Area Integrated Projects Firm Power
Contractors. <<NOTE: Contracts. Deadline.>> The agreement and loan
contracts shall include provisions designed to minimize impacts on
electrical power rates and shall ensure that loan repayment to the
Colorado Water Conservation Board, including principal and interest, is
completed no later than September 30, 2057. The Western Area Power
Administration is authorized to include in power rates such sums as are
necessary to carry out this paragraph and paragraph (2).
(4) All contributions made pursuant to this subsection shall be in
addition to the cost of replacement power purchased due to modifying the
operation of the Colorado River Storage Project and the capital cost of
water from Wolford Mountain Reservoir in Colorado. Such costs shall be
considered as non-Federal contributions, not to exceed $20,000,000.
(d) <<NOTE: Effective date.>> Base Funding.--(1) Beginning in the
first fiscal year commencing after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Secretary may utilize power revenues collected pursuant to the
Colorado River Storage Project Act for the annual base funding
contributions to the Recovery Implementation Programs by the Bureau of
Reclamation. Such funding shall be treated as nonreimbursable and as
having been repaid and returned to the general fund of the Treasury as
costs assigned to power for repayment under section 5 of the Colorado
River Storage Project Act.
(2) For the Recovery Implementation Program for the Endangered Fish
Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin, the contributions to base
funding referred to in paragraph (1) shall not exceed $4,000,000 per
year. For the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program, such
contributions shall not exceed $2,000,000 per
[[Page 114 STAT. 1605]]
year. The Secretary shall adjust such amounts for inflation in fiscal
years commencing after the enactment of this Act. The utilization of
power revenues for annual base funding shall cease after the fiscal year
2011, unless reauthorized by Congress; except that power revenues may
continue to be utilized to fund the operation and maintenance of capital
projects and monitoring. <<NOTE: Deadline. Reports.>> No later than the
end of fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall submit a report on the
utilization of power revenues for base funding to the appropriate
Committees of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Secretary shall also make a recommendation in such report regarding
the need for continued base funding after fiscal year 2011 that may be
required to fulfill the goals of the Recovery Implementation Programs.
Nothing in this Act shall otherwise modify or amend existing agreements
among participants regarding base funding and depletion charges for the
Recovery Implementation Programs.
(3) The Western Area Power Administration and the Bureau of
Reclamation shall maintain sufficient revenues in the Colorado River
Basin Fund to meet their obligation to provide base funding in
accordance with paragraph (2). If the Western Area Power Administration
and the Bureau of Reclamation determine that the funds in the Colorado
River Basin Fund will not be sufficient to meet the obligations of
section 5(c)(1) of the Colorado River Storage Project Act for a 3-year
period, the Western Area Power Administration and the Bureau of
Reclamation shall request appropriations to meet base funding
obligations.
(e) Authority To Retain Appropriated Funds.--At the end of each
fiscal year any unexpended appropriated funds for capital projects under
this Act shall be retained for use in future fiscal years. Unexpended
funds under this Act that are carried over shall continue to be used to
implement the capital projects needed for the Recovery Implementation
Programs.
(f ) Additional Authority.--The Secretary may enter into agreements
and contracts with Federal and non-Federal entities, acquire and
transfer interests in land, water, and facilities, and accept or give
grants in order to carry out the purposes of this Act.
(g) Indian Trust Assets.--The Congress finds that much of the
potential water development in the San Juan River Basin and in the
Duchesne River Basin (a subbasin of the Green River in the Upper
Colorado River Basin) is for the benefit of Indian tribes and most of
the federally designated critical habitat for the endangered fish
species in the San Juan River Basin is on Indian trust lands, and 2\1/2\
miles of critical habitat on the Duchesne River is on Indian Trust Land.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to restrict the Secretary, acting
through the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, from
funding activities or capital projects in accordance with the Federal
Government's Indian trust responsibility.
(h) Termination of Authority.--All authorities provided by this
section for the respective Recovery Implementation Program shall
terminate upon expiration of the current time period for the respective
Cooperative Agreement referenced in section 2(1) unless, at least 1 year
prior to such expiration, the time period for the respective Cooperative
Agreement is extended to conform with this Act.
[[Page 114 STAT. 1606]]
SEC. 4. EFFECT ON RECLAMATION LAW.
Specifically with regard to the acreage limitation provisions of
Federal reclamation law, any action taken pursuant to or in furtherance
of this title will not--
(1) be considered in determining whether a district as
defined in section 202(2) of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982
(43 U.S.C. 390bb) has discharged its obligation to repay the
construction cost of project facilities used to make irrigation
water available for delivery to land in the district;
(2) serve as the basis for reinstating acreage limitation
provisions in a district that has completed payment of its
construction obligations; or
(3) serve as the basis for increasing the construction
repayment obligation of the district and thereby extending the
period during which the acreage limitation provisions will
apply.
Approved October 30, 2000.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 2348 (S. 2239):
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HOUSE REPORTS: No. 106-791 (Comm. on Resources).
SENATE REPORTS: No. 106-403 accompanying S. 2239 (Comm. on Energy and
Natural Resources).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 146 (2000):
July 25, considered and passed House.
Oct. 13, considered and passed Senate.
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