FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL RECLAMATION PROJECTS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1955 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a. m., in the committee room, New House Office Building, Hon. Wayne N. Aspinall (chairman) presiding. Mr. ASPINALL. The Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs will now be in session for the consideration of House bills 104, by our chairman, Congressman Engle of California; 384, by Congressman Miller, our former chairman, of Nebraska, and 3817, by Congressman Young of Nevada, a bill which I understand is an identical bill to 384. (H. R. 104, H. R. 384, and H. R. 3817 follow:) [H. R. 104, 84th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To supplement the Federal reclamation laws by providing for Federal cooperation in non-Federal projects and for participation by non-Federal agencies in Federal projects Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the purpose of this Act is to encourage State and local participation in the development of projects under the Federal reclamation laws and to provide for Federal assistance in the development of similar projects in the seventeen western reclamation States by non-Federal organizations. SEC. 2. As used in this Act (a) The term "construction" shall include rehabilitation and betterment. (b) The term "Federal reclamation laws" shall mean the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto. (c) The term "organization" shall mean a State or a department, agency, or political subdivision thereof or a conservancy district, irrigation district, water users' association, an agency created by interstate compact, or similar organization which has capacity to contract with the United States under the Federal reclamation laws. (d) The term "project" shall mean (i) any reclamation or irrigation undertaking or a self-contained unit of such an undertaking or a rehabilitation and betterment program for an existing irrigation project, authorized to be constructed pursuant to the Federal reclamation laws and (ii) any similar undertaking proposed to be constructed by an organization. The term "project" shell not include any such undertaking, unit or program the cost of which exceeds $5,000,000. (e) The term "Secretary" shall mean the Secretary of the Interior. SEC. 3. Any organization desiring to avail itself of the benefits provided in this Act shell submit a proposɛl therefor to the Secretary in such form and manner as he shall prescribe. Each such proposal shall be accompanied by a payment of $1,000 to defray, in part, the cost of examining the proposal. SEC. 4. (a) Any proposal with respect to the construction of a project which has not theretofore been authorized for construction under the Federal reclamation laws shall set forth, among other things, a plan and estimated cost in detail comparable to those included in preauthorization reports required for a Federal reclamation project; shall have been submitted for review by the State or States in which the project is located in like manner as provided in subsection (c), section 1 of the Act of December 22, 1944 (58 Stat. 887), except that the review may be limited to the State or States in which the project is located; and shall include a proposed allocation of capital costs to functions such that costs for facilities used for a single purpose shall be allocated to that purpose and costs for facilities used for more than one purpose shall be so allocated among the purposes served that each purpose will share equitably in the costs of such joint facilities. (b) Every such proposal shall include a showing that the organization already holds or can acquire all lands and interests in land (except public and other lands and interests in land owned by the United States which are within the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary and subject to disposition by him) and rights to the use of water necessary for the successful construction, operation, and maintenance of the project and that it is ready, able, and willing to finance otherwise than by loan and grant under this Act such portion of the cost of construction (which portion shell include all costs of acquiring lands, interests in land, and rights to the use of water) as the Secretary shall have advised is proper in the circumstances: Provided, That the contribution required of any applicant organization shall not be in excess of 25 per centum of the costs of the project which, if it were being constructed as a Federal reclamation project, would be properly allocable to reimbursable functions under general provisions of law applicable to such projects and, in the case of rehabilitation and betterment projects any existing irrigation facilities owned by the applicant organization may be pledged as all or part of any contribution so required. (c) If the project is found by the Secretary and the Governor of the State in which it is located (or an appropriate State agency designated by him) to be financially feasible and upon determination by the Secretary that the requested project constitutes a reasonable risk under the provisions of this Act, the Secretary is hereby authorized to negotiate a contract with the applicant organization as provided in section 5; but no such contract shall be executed by the Secretary prior to sixty calendar days (which sixty days, however, shall not include days on which either the House of Representatives or the Senate is not in session because of an adjournment of more than three days to a day certain) from the date on which the project proposal has been submitted to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate: Provided, That the said submission may, after the close of any session of the Congress, be made to the chairman and ranking minority member of the said committees and in that event, or in the event that the sixty-day period aforesaid is broken by an adjournment of the Congress, the contract shall not be executed until the expiration of sixty calendar days from the date of such submission or from the date of its original submission to the committees as hereinbefore provided. The Secretary at the time of submitting the project proposal to Congress or at the time of his determination that the requested project constitutes a reasonable risk under the provisions of this Act, may reserve from use or disposition inimical to the project any lands and interests in land owned by the United States which are within his administrative jurisdiction and subject to disposition by him and which are required for use by the project. Any such reservation shall expire at the end of two years unless the repayment contract provided for in section 5 of this Act shall have been executed. (d) The Secretary shall give due consideration to financial feasibility, emergency or urgent need for the project, whether the proposal involves furnishing supplemental irrigation water for an existing irrigation project, whether the proposal involves rehabilitation of existing irrigation project works, and whether the proposed project is primarily for irrigation or drainage. All project works and facilities constructed under this Act, except such portions that are dedicated to flood control or other functions which would in the case of a Federal reclamation project be considered nonreimbursable, shall remain under the jurisdiction and control of the local contracting organization subject to the terms of the repayment contract. SEC. 5. Any contract authorized to be negotiated under the provisions of subsection (c) of section 4 of this Act shall, except as otherwise provided in this Act, conform to the provisions of the Federal reclamation laws with respect to repayment contracts entered into by irrigation districts and the delivery of water thereunder and shall set out, among other things Said (a) The maximum amount of any loan to be made to the organization and the time and method of making the same available to the organization. loan shall not exceed the estimated cost of constructing the project which, if it were being constructed as a Federal reclamation project, would be properly allocable to reimbursable functions under general provisions of law applicable to such projects; (b) the maximum amount of any grant to be accorded the organization and the time and method of paying the same to the organization. Said grant shall not exceed that portion of the estimated cost of constructing the project which, if it were being constructed as a Federal reclamation project, would be properly allocable to nonreimbursable functions under general provisions of law applicable to such projects; (c) a plan of repayment by the organization of the sums lent to it in not more than fifty years from the date when the principal benefits of the project first become available and, in the case of any project involving an allocation to domestic, industrial, or municipal water supply, or power produced as an element of the project and incidental to its full development, of interest on the unamortized balance of an appropriate portion of the loan at the average rate of interest, as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, paid on the long-term interest-bearing marketable securities of the United States outstanding at the beginning of the fiscal year preceding the date on which the contract is executed; (d) provision for operation of the project, if a grant predicated upon its performance of nonreimbursable functions is made, in accordance with regulations with respect thereto prescribed by the head of the Federal department or agency primarily concerned with those functions and, in the event of noncompliance with such regulations, for operation by the United States or for repayment to the United States of the amount of any such grant; and (e) such provisions as the Secretary shall deem necessary or proper to provide assurance of and security for prompt repayment of the loan and interest as aforesaid. The liability of the United States under any contract entered into pursuant to this Act shall be contingent upon the availability of appropriations to carry out the same, and every such contract shall so recite. SEC. 6. Any proposal with respect to the construction of a project which has theretofore been authorized for construction under the Federal reclamation laws shall be made in like manner as a proposal under section 4 of this Act, but the Secretary may waive such requirements of subsections (a) and (b) of that section as he finds to be duplicative of, or rendered unnecessary or impossible by, action already taken by the United States. Upon approval of any such proposal by the Secretary he may negotiate and execute a contract which conforms, as nearly as may be, to the provisions of section 5 of this Act. SEC. 7. Upon request of an organization which has made or intends to make a proposal under this Act, the head of any Federal department or agency may make available to the organization any existent engineering, economic, or hydrologic information and printed material that it may have and that will be useful in connection with the planning, design, construction, or operation and maintenance of the project concerned. The cost of any plans, specifications, and other unpublished material furnished by the Secretary pursuant to this section and the cost of making and administering any loan under this Act shall, to the extent that they would not be nonreimbursable in the case of a project constructed under the Federal reclamation laws, be treated as a loan and covered in the provisions of the contract entered into under section 5 of this Act unless they are otherwise paid for by the organization. SEC. 8. The Secretary is authorized to perform any and all acts and to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary or proper in carrying out the provisions of this Act. SEC. 9. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated, such sums as may be necessary, but not to exceed $100,000,000 to carry out the provisions of this Act. All such appropriations shall remain available until expended and shall, insofar as they are used to finance loans made under this Act, be reimbursable in the manner hereinabove provided. SEC. 10. This Act shall be a supplement to the Federal reclamation laws. [H. R. 384, 84th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To supplement the Federal reclamation laws by providing for Federal cooperation in non-Federal projects and for participation by non-Federal agencies in Federal projects Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the purpose of this Act is to encourage State and local participation in the development of projects under the Federal reclamation laws and to provide for Federal assistance in the development of similar projects in the seventeen western reclamation States by non-Federal organizations. SEC. 2. As used in this Act— (a) The term "construction" in addition to its usual meaning under the Federal reclamation laws shall include rehabilitation and betterment. (b) The term "Federal reclamation laws" shall mean the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto. (c) The term "organization" shall mean a State or a department, agency, or political subdivision thereof or a conservancy district, irrigation district, water users' association, an agency created by interstate compact, or similar organization which has capacity to contract with the United States under the Federal reclamation laws. (d) The term "project" shall mean (i) any undertaking or feature or unit of an undertaking, having an estimated cost of not to exceed $5,000,000, authorized to be constructed under the Federal reclamation laws, the sole or principal purpose of which is to store, divert, carry, or deliver water for irrigation or for domestic, industrial, or municipal use or to furnish pumping energy therefor or to drain lands under or susceptible of irrigation, and (ii) any other similar undertaking or feature or unit of an undertaking, having an estimated cost of not to exceed $5,000,000, proposed to be constructed by an organization. (e) The term "Secretary" shall mean the Secretary of the Interior. SEC. 3. Any organization desiring to avail itself of the benefits provided in this Act shall submit a proposal therefor to the Secretary in such form and manner as he shall prescribe. Each such proposal shall be accompanied by a payment of $1,000 to defray, in part, the cost of examining the proposal. SEC. 4. (a) Any proposal with respect to the construction of a project which has not theretofore been authorized for construction under the Federal reclamation laws shall set forth, among other things, a plan and estimated cost in detail comparable to those included in preauthorization reports required for a Federal reclamation project; shall have been submitted for review by the State or States in which the project is located in like manner as provided in subsection (c), section 1 of the Act of December 22, 1944 (58 Stat. 887), except that the review may be limited to the State or States in which the project is located; and shall include a proposed allocation of capital costs to functions such that costs for facilities used for a single purpose shall be allocated to that purpose and costs for facilities used for more than one purpose shall be so allocated among the purposes served that each purpose will share equitably in the costs of such joint facilities. (b) Every such proposal shall include a showing that the organization already holds or can acquire all lands and interests in land (except public and other lands and interests in land owned by the United States which are within the adminis trative jurisdiction of the Secretary and subject to disposition by him) and rights to the use of water necessary for the successful construction, operation, and maintenance of the project and that it is ready, able, and willing to finance otherwise than by loan and grant under this Act such portion of the cost of construction (which portion shall include all costs of acquiring lands, interests in land, and rights to the use of water) as the Secretary shall have advised is proper in the circumstances: Provide 1, That the contribution required of any applicant organization shall not be in excess of 25 per centum of the costs of the project which, if it were being constructed as a Federal reclamation project, would be properly allocable to reimbursable functions under general provisions of law applicable to such projects and, in the case of rehabilitation and betterment projects, any existing irrigation facilities owned by the applicant organization may be pledged as all or part of any contribution so required. (c) If the project is found by the Secretary and the Governor of the State in which it is located (or an appropriate State agency designated by him to be financially feasible and upon determination by the Secretary that the requested project constitutes a reasonable risk under the provisions of this Act, the Secretary is hereby authorized to negotiate a contract with the applicant organization as provided in section 5. Such contract shall not be executed, when Congress is in session, until the expiration of sixty calendar days after the project proposal and the proposed contract shall have been submitted to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives and Senate, or when Congress is not in session, until the expiration of sixty days after submission thereof to the chairman and ranking minority member of each such committee: Provided, That prior to submission of any project proposal, the Secretary shall afford the applicant organization an opportunity to comment in writing on the conclusions and recommendations of the Secretary with respect to the project proposal, and such written comments of the applicant organization shall be included in the matter submitted to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs, or to the chairman and ranking minority members thereof, as hereinbefore provided. (d) The Secretary at the time of submitting the project proposal to Congress at the time of his determination that the requested project constitutes a reasonable risk under the provisions of this Act, may reserve from use or disposition inimical to the project any lands and interests in land owned by the United States which are within his administrative jurisdiction and subject to disposition by him and which are required for use by the project. Any such reservation shall expire at the end of two years unless the repayment contract provided for in section 5 of this Act shall have been executed. (e) The Secretary shall give due consideration to financial feasibility, emergency or urgent need for the project, whether the proposal involves furnishing supplemental irrigation water for an existing irrigation project, whether the proposal involves rehabilitation of existing irrigation project works, and whether the proposed project is primarily for irrigation or drainage. All project works and facilities constructed under this Act shall remain under the ownership and control of the local contracting organization subject to the terms of the contract entered into pursuant to section 5 of this Act. SEC. 5. Any contract authorized to be negotiated under the provisions of subsection (c) of section 4 of this Act shall set out, among other things (a) the maximum amount of any loan to be made to the organization and the time and method of making the same available to the organization. Said loan shall not exceed the estimated cost of constructing the project which, if it were being constructed as a Federal reclamation project, would be properly allocable to reimbursable functions under general provisions of law applicable to such projects; (b) the maximum amount of any grant to be accorded the organization and the time and method of paying the same to the organization. Said grant shall not exceed that portion of the estimated cost of constructing the project which, if it were being constructed as a Federal reclamation project, would be properly allocable to nonreimbursable functions under general provisions of law applicable to such projects; (c) a plan of repayment by the organization of the sums lent to it in not more than fifty years from the date when the principal benefits of the project first become available and, in the case of any project involving an allocation to dometic, industrial, or municipal water supply, or power produced as an element of the project and incidental to its full development, of interest on the unamortized balance of an appropriate portion of the loan at the average rate of interest, as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, paid on the longterm interest-bearing marketable securities of the United States outstanding at the beginning of the fiscal year preceding the date on which the contract is executed; (d) provision for operation of the project, if a grant predicated upon its performance of nonreimbursable functions is made, in accordance with regulations with respect thereto prescribed by the head of the Federal department or agency primarily concerned with those functions and, in the event of noncompliance with such regulations, for operation by the United States or for repayment to the United States of the amount of any such grant; and (e) such provisions as the Secretary shall deem necessary or proper to provide assurance of and security for prompt repayment of the loan and interest as aforesaid. The liability of the United States under any contract entered into pursuant to this Act shall be contingent upon the availability of appropriations to carry out the same, and every such contract shall so recite. SEC. 6. Upon request of an organization which has made or intends to make a proposal under this Act, the head of any Federal department or agency may make available to the organization any existent engineering, economic, or hydrologic information and printed material that it may have and that will be useful in connection with the planning, design, construction, or operation and maintenance of the project concerned. As agreed upon, the reasonable cost of any plans specifications, and other unpublished material furnished by the Secretary pursuant |