§617. Colorado River Basin; protection and development; dam, reservoir, and incidental works; water, water power, and electrical energy; eminent domain — Inbound Citations
43 U.S.C. § 617
Cited by 22 provisions in release 119-102.
Citations to 43 U.S.C. § 617 as a whole
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(3) executed in connection with the sale by the Government, or any agency or official thereof, of any of the so-called Greenbelt towns, or parts thereof, including projects, or parts thereof, known as Greenhills, Ohio; Greenbelt, Maryland; and Greendale, Wisconsin, developed under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, or of any of the village properties or employee’s housing under the jurisdiction of Tennessee Valley Authority, or of any housing under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior located within the town area of Coulee Dam, Washington, acquired by the United States for the construction, operation, and maintenance of Grand Coulee Dam and its appurtenant works: Provided, That for the purpose of the application of this subchapter to sales by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to subsections 3(b)(1) and 3(b)(2) of the Coulee Dam Community Act of 1957, the selling price of the property involved shall be deemed to be the appraised value, of any permanent housing under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior constructed under the Boulder Canyon Project Act of December 21, 1928, as amended and supplemented [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] located within the Boulder City municipal area: Provided, That for purposes of the application of this subchapter to sales by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to subsections 3(b)(1) and 3(b)(2) of the Boulder City Act of 1958, the selling price of the property involved shall be deemed to be the appraised value; or
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All moneys received by the United States in connection with any irrigation projects, including the incidental power features thereof, constructed by the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of Reclamation, and financed in whole or in part with moneys heretofore or hereafter appropriated or allocated therefor by the Federal Government, shall be covered into the reclamation fund, except in cases where provision has been made by law or contract for the use of such revenues for the benefit of users of water from such project: Provided, That after the net revenues derived from the sale of power developed in connection with any of said projects shall have repaid those construction costs of such project allocated to power to be repaid by power revenues therefrom and shall no longer be required to meet the contractual obligations of the United States, then said net revenues derived from the sale of power developed in connection with such project shall, after the close of each fiscal year, be transferred to and covered into the General Treasury as “miscellaneous receipts”: Provided further, That nothing in this section shall be construed to amend the Boulder Canyon Project Act (45 Stat. 1057), as amended [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], or to apply to irrigation projects of the Office of Indian Affairs.
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The dam and reservoir provided for by section 617 of this title shall be used: First, for river regulation, improvement of navigation, and flood control; second, for irrigation and domestic uses and satisfaction of present perfected rights in pursuance of Article VIII of said Colorado River compact; and third, for power. The title to said dam, reservoir, plant, and incidental works shall forever remain in the United States, and the United States shall, until otherwise provided by Congress, control, manage, and operate the same, except as herein otherwise provided: Provided, however, That the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, enter into contracts of lease of a unit or units of any Government-built plant, with right to generate electrical energy, or alternatively, to enter into contracts of lease for the use of water for the generation of electrical energy as herein provided, in either of which events the provisions of section 617d of this title relating to revenue, term, renewals, determination of conflicting applications, and joint use of transmission lines under contracts for the sale of electrical energy, shall apply.
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Lands found to be practicable of irrigation and reclamation by irrigation works and withdrawn under the Act of March 6, 1946 (43 U.S.C. 617(h)) shall be opened for entry, in tracts varying in size but not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, as may be determined by the Secretary of the Interior, in accordance with the provisions of the reclamation law, and any such entryman shall pay an equitable share in accordance with the benefits received, as determined by the said Secretary, of the construction cost of said canal and appurtenant structures; said payments to be made in such installments and at such times as may be specified by the Secretary of the Interior, in accordance with the provisions of the said reclamation law, and shall constitute revenue from said project and be covered into the fund herein provided for: Provided, That all persons who served in the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard during World War II, the War with Germany, the War with Spain, or in the suppression of the insurrection in the Philippines, and who have been honorably separated or discharged therefrom or placed in the Regular Army or Naval Reserve, shall have the exclusive preference right for a period of three months to enter said lands, subject, however, to the provisions of section 433 of this title; and also, so far as practicable, preference shall be given to said persons in all construction work authorized by this subchapter: Provided further, That the above exclusive preference rights shall apply to veteran settlers on lands watered from the Gila canal in Arizona the same as to veteran settlers on lands watered from the All-American canal in California: Provided further, That in the event such an entry shall be relinquished at any time prior to actual residence upon the land by the entryman for not less than one year, lands so relinquished shall not be subject to entry for a period of sixty days after the filing and notation of the relinquishment in the local land office, and after the expiration of said sixty-day period such lands shall be open to entry, subject to the preference in this section provided.
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(c) Payment subject to the provisions of section 618b of this title, in commutation of the payments now provided for the States of Arizona and Nevada in section 4(b) of the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617c(b)] to each of said States of the sum of $300,000 for each year of operation, beginning with the year of operation ending May 31, 1938, and continuing annually thereafter until and including the year of operation ending May 31, 1987, and such payments for any year of operation which shall have expired at the time when this subdivision shall become effective shall be due immediately, and be paid, without interest, as expeditiously as administration of this subchapter will permit, and each such payment for subsequent years of operation shall be made on or before July 31, following the close of the year of operation for which it is made. All such payments shall be made from revenues received on and after July 19, 1940 in the Colorado River Dam Fund.Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subsection, in the event that there are levied and collected by or under authority of Arizona or Nevada or by any lawful taxing political subdivision thereof, taxes upon—(i) the project as herein defined;(ii) the electrical energy generated at Hoover Dam by means of facilities, machinery, or equipment both owned and operated by the United States, or owned by the United States and operated under contract with the United States;(iii) the privilege of generating or transforming such electrical energy or of use of such facilities, machinery, or equipment or of falling water for such generation or transforming; or(iv) the transmission or control of such electrical energy so generated or transformed (as distinguished from the transmission lines and other physical properties used for such transmission or control) or the use of such transmission lines or other physical properties for such transmission or control,payments made hereunder to the State by or under the authority of which such taxes are collected shall be reduced by an amount equivalent to such taxes. Nothing herein shall in anywise impair the right of either the State of Arizona or the State of Nevada, or any lawful taxing political subdivision of either of them, to collect non-discriminatory taxes upon that portion of the transmission lines and all other physical properties, situated within such State and such political subdivision, respectively, and belonging to any of the lessees and/or allottees under the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] and/or under this subchapter, and nothing herein shall exempt or be construed so as to exempt any such property from nondiscriminatory taxation, all in the manner provided by the constitution and laws of such State. Sums, if any, received by each State under the provisions of the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] shall be deducted from the first payment or payments to said State authorized by this subchapter. Payments under this subsection shall be deemed contractual obligations of the United States, subject to the provisions of section 618b of this title.
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(d) Transfer, subject to the provisions of section 618b of this title, from the Colorado River Dam Fund to a special fund in the Treasury, established and designated the “Colorado River Development Fund”, of the sum of $500,000 for the year of operation ending May 31, 1938, and the like sum of $500,000 for each year of operation thereafter, until and including the year of operation ending May 31, 1987. The transfer of the said sum of $500,000 for each year of operation shall be made on or before July 31 next following the close of the year of operation for which it is made: Provided, That any such transfer for any year of operation which shall have ended at the time this subsection shall become effective, shall be made, without interest, from revenues received in the Colorado River Dam Fund, as expeditiously as administration of this subchapter will permit, and without readvances from the general funds of the Treasury. Receipts of the Colorado River Development Fund for the years of operation ending in 1938, 1939, and 1940 (or in the event of reduced receipts during any of said years, due to adjustments under section 618b of this title, then the first receipts of said fund up to $1,500,000), are authorized to be appropriated only for the continuation and extension, under the direction of the Secretary, of studies and investigations by the Bureau of Reclamation for the formulation of a comprehensive plan for the utilization of waters of the Colorado River system for irrigation, electrical power, and other purposes, in the States of the upper division and the States of the lower division, including studies of quantity and quality of water and all other relevant factors. The next such receipts up to and including the receipts for the year of operation ending in 1955 are authorized to be appropriated only for the investigation and construction of projects for such utilization in and equitably distributed among the four States of the upper division: Provided, however, That in view of distributions heretofore made, and in order to expedite the development and utilization of water projects within all of the States of the upper division, the distribution of such funds for use in the fiscal years 1949 to 1955, shall be on a basis which is as nearly equal as practicable. Such receipts for the years of operation ending in 1956 to 1987, inclusive, are authorized to be appropriated for the investigation and construction of projects for such utilization in and equitably distributed among the States of the upper division and the States of the lower division. The terms “Colorado River system”, “States of the upper division”, and “States of the lower division” as so used shall have the respective meanings defined in the Colorado River compact mentioned in the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.]. Such projects shall be only such as are found by the Secretary to be physically feasible, economically justified, and consistent with such formulation of a comprehensive plan. Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed so as to prevent the authorization and construction of any such projects prior to the completion of said plan of comprehensive development; nor shall this subchapter be construed as affecting the right of any State to proceed independently of this subchapter or its provisions with the investigation or construction of any project or projects. Transfers under this subsection shall be deemed contractual obligations of the United States, subject to the provisions of section 618b of this title.
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Whenever by the terms of the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] or this subchapter payment of interest is provided for, and whenever interest shall enter into any computation thereunder, such interest shall be computed at the rate of 3 per centum per annum, compounded annually: Provided, That the respective rates of interest on appropriated funds advanced for the visitor facilities program, as described in section 619(a) of this title, shall be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, taking into consideration average market yields on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States with remaining periods to maturity comparable to the reimbursement period of the program during the month preceding the fiscal year in which the costs of the program are incurred. To the extent that more than one interest rate is determined pursuant to the preceding sentence, the Secretary of the Treasury shall establish for repayment purposes an interest rate at a weighted average of the rates so determined.
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The Secretary is authorized from time to time to promulgate such regulations and enter into such contracts as he may find necessary or appropriate for carrying out the purposes of this subchapter and the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], as modified hereby, and, by mutual consent, to terminate or modify any such contract: Provided, however, That no allotment of energy to any allottee made by any rule or regulation heretofore promulgated shall be modified or changed without the consent of such allottee.
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The Secretary is authorized to negotiate for and enter into a contract for the termination of the existing lease of the Hoover Power Plant made pursuant to the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], and in the event of such termination the operation and maintenance, and the making of replacements, however necessitated, of the Hoover Power Plant by the United States, directly or through such agent or agents as the Secretary may designate, is authorized. The powers, duties, and rights of such agent or agents shall be provided by contract, which may include provision that questions relating to the interpretation or performance thereof may be determined, to the extent provided therein, by arbitration or court proceedings. The Secretary in consideration of such termination of such existing lease is authorized to agree (a) that the lessees therein named shall be designated as the agents of the United States for the operation of said power plant; (b) that (except by mutual consent or in accordance with such provisions for termination for default as may be specified therein) such agency contract shall not be revocable or terminable; and (c) that suits or proceedings to restrain the termination of any such agency contract, otherwise than as therein provided, or for other appropriate equitable relief or remedies, may be maintained against the Secretary. Suits or other court proceedings pursuant to the foregoing provisions may be maintained in, and jurisdiction to hear and determine such suits or proceedings and to grant such relief or remedies is conferred upon, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, with the like right of appeal or review as in other like suits or proceedings in said court. The Secretary is authorized to act for the United States in such arbitration proceedings.
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Any contractor for energy from the project failing or refusing to execute a contract modifying its existing contract to conform to this subchapter shall continue to pay the rates and charges provided for in its existing contract, subject to such periodic readjustments as are therein provided, in all respects as if this subchapter had not been passed, and so far as necessary to support such existing contract all of the provisions of the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] shall remain in effect, anything in this subchapter inconsistent therewith notwithstanding.
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The following terms wherever used in this subchapter shall have the following respective meanings:
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Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as interfering with such rights as the States had on July 19, 1940, either to the waters within their borders or to adopt such policies and enact such laws as they deem necessary with respect to the appropriation, control, and use of waters within their borders, except as modified by the Colorado River compact or other interstate agreement. Neither the promulgation of charges, or the basis of charges, nor anything contained in this subchapter, or done thereunder, shall in anywise affect, limit, or prejudice any right of any State in or to the waters of the Colorado River system under the Colorado River compact. Sections 13(b), 13(c), and 13(d) of the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617l(b), (c), and (d)] and all other provisions of said Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] not inconsistent with the terms of this subchapter shall remain in full force and effect.
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(b) Nothing in the Criteria shall be construed to prejudice any rights conferred by the Boulder Canyon Project Act, as amended and supplemented [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], on the holder of a contract described in subsection (a) of this section not in default thereunder on September 30, 2067.
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(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any claim that the provisions of subsection (a) of this section violates any rights to capacity or energy from the Boulder Canyon project is barred unless the complaint is filed within one year after December 20, 2011, in the United States Court of Federal Claims which shall have exclusive jurisdiction over this action. Any claim that actions taken by any administrative agency of the United States violates any right under this subchapter or the Boulder Canyon Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] or the Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act [43 U.S.C. 618 et seq.] is barred unless suit asserting such claim is filed in a Federal court of competent jurisdiction within one year after final refusal of such agency to correct the action complained of.
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The hydroelectric powerplants and transmission lines authorized by this chapter to be constructed, operated, and maintained by the Secretary shall be operated in conjunction with other Federal powerplants, present and potential, so as to produce the greatest practicable amount of power and energy that can be sold at firm power and energy rates, but in the exercise of the authority hereby granted he shall not affect or interfere with the operation of the provisions of the Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, the Boulder Canyon Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], the Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act [43 U.S.C. 618 et seq.], and any contract lawfully entered into under said Compacts and Acts. Subject to the provisions of the Colorado River Compact, neither the impounding nor the use of water for the generation of power and energy at the plants of the Colorado River storage project shall preclude or impair the appropriation of water for domestic or agricultural purposes pursuant to applicable State law.
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Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to alter, amend, repeal, construe, interpret, modify, or be in conflict with the provisions of the Boulder Canyon Project Act (45 Stat. 1057) [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], the Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act (54 Stat. 774) [43 U.S.C. 618 et seq.], the Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, the Rio Grande Compact of 1938, or the treaty with the United Mexican States (Treaty Series 994).
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In the operation and maintenance of all facilities, authorized by Federal law and under the jurisdiction and supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, in the basin of the Colorado River, the Secretary of the Interior is directed to comply with the applicable provisions of the Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, the Boulder Canyon Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], the Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act [43 U.S.C. 618 et seq.], and the Treaty with the United Mexican States, in the storage and release of water from reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin. In the event of the failure of the Secretary of the Interior to so comply, any State of the Colorado River Basin may maintain an action in the Supreme Court of the United States to enforce the provisions of this section, and consent is given to the joinder of the United States as a party in such suit or suites, as a defendant or otherwise.
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(c) Each contract under which water is provided under the Central Arizona Project shall require that (1) there be in effect measures, adequate in the judgment of the Secretary, to control expansion of irrigation from aquifers affected by the irrigation in the contract service area; (2) the canals and distribution systems through which water is conveyed after its delivery by the United States to the contractors shall be provided and maintained with linings adequate in his judgment to prevent excessive conveyance losses; and (3) [Repealed. Pub. L. 102–575, title XXXVII, § 3710(k), Oct. 30, 1992, 106 Stat. 4751]. Such contracts shall be subordinate at all times to the satisfaction of all existing contracts between the Secretary and users in Arizona heretofore made pursuant to the Boulder Canyon Project Act (45 Stat. 1057) [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.].
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(a) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to alter, amend, repeal, modify, or be in conflict with the provisions of the Colorado River Compact (45 Stat. 1057), the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (63 Stat. 31), the Water Treaty of 1944 with the United Mexican States (Treaty Series 994; 59 Stat. 1219), the decree entered by the Supreme Court of the United States in Arizona against California and others (376 U.S. 340), or, except as otherwise provided herein, the Boulder Canyon Project Act (45 Stat. 1057) [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], the Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act (54 Stat. 774), [43 U.S.C. 618 et seq.], or the Colorado River Storage Project Act (70 Stat. 105) [43 U.S.C. 620 et seq.].
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(a) In order to comply with and carry out the provisions of the Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, and the Mexican Water Treaty, the Secretary shall propose criteria for the coordinated long-range operation of the reservoirs constructed and operated under the authority of the Colorado River Storage Project Act [43 U.S.C. 620 et seq.], the Boulder Canyon Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], and the Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act [43 U.S.C. 618 et seq.]. To effect in part the purposes expressed in this paragraph, the criteria shall make provision for the storage of water in storage units of the Colorado River storage project and releases of water form Lake Powell in the following listed order of priority:(1) releases to supply one-half the deficiency described in article III(c) of the Colorado River Compact, if any such deficiency exists and is chargeable to the States of the Upper Division, but in any event such releases, if any, shall not be required in any year that the Secretary makes the determination and issues the proclamation specified in section 1512 of this title;(2) releases to comply with article III(d) of the Colorado River Compact, less such quantities of water delivered into the Colorado River below Lee Ferry to the credit of the States of the Upper Division from other sources; and(3) storage of water not required for the releases specified in clauses (1) and (2) of this subsection to the extent that the Secretary, after consultation with the Upper Colorado River Commission and representatives of the three Lower Division States and taking into consideration all relevant factors (including, but not limited to, historic stream-flows, the most critical period of record, and probabilities of water supply), shall find this to be reasonably necessary to assure deliveries under clauses (1) and (2) without impairment of annual consumptive uses in the upper basin pursuant to the Colorado River Compact: Provided, That water not so required to be stored shall be released from Lake Powell: (i) to the extent it can be reasonably applied in the States of the Lower Division to the uses specified in article III(e) of the Colorado River Compact, but no such releases shall be made when the active storage in Lake Powell is less than the active storage in Lake Mead, (ii) to maintain, as nearly as practicable, active storage in Lake Mead equal to the active storage in Lake Powell, and (iii) to avoid anticipated spills from Lake Powell.
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Except as provided in sections 620d(d)(5), 1543(g)(2), and 1595(b) of this title, with respect to the Colorado River Basin Project Act [43 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.] and the Colorado River Storage Project Act [43 U.S.C. 620 et seq.], respectively, nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to alter, amend, repeal, modify, interpret, or be in conflict with the provisions of the Colorado River Compact (45 Stat. 1057), the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (63 Stat. 31), the Water Treaty of 1944 with the United Mexican States (Treaty Series 994; 59 Stat. 1219), the decree entered by the Supreme Court of the United States in Arizona against California and others (376 U.S. 340), the Boulder Canyon Project Act (45 Stat. 1057) [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act (54 Stat. 774; 43 U.S.C. 618a) [43 U.S.C. 618 et seq.], section 15 of the Colorado River Storage Project Act (70 Stat. 111; 43 U.S.C. 620n), the Colorado River Basin Project Act (82 Stat. 885), section 6 of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project Act (76 Stat. 393) [43 U.S.C. 616e)], section 15 of the Navajo Indian irrigation project and initial stage of the San Juan-Chama Project Act (76 Stat. 102) [43 U.S.C. 615ww)], the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 [42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.], and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended [33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.].
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Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to alter, amend, repeal, modify, interpret, or be in conflict with the provisions of the Colorado River Compact (45 Stat. 1057), the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (63 Stat. 31), the Water Treaty of 1944 with the United Mexican States (Treaty Series 944, 59 Stat. 1219), the Flood Control Act of 1944 (58 Stat. 887), the decree entered by the Supreme Court of the United States in Arizona v. California, and others (376 U.S. 340), the Boulder Canyon Project Act (45 Stat. 1057) [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], the Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act (54 Stat. 774; 43 U.S.C. 618a) [43 U.S.C. 618 et seq.], the Colorado River Storage Project Act (70 Stat. 105; 43 U.S.C. 620) [43 U.S.C. 620 et seq.], the Colorado River Basin Project Act (82 Stat. 885; 43 U.S.C. 1501) [43 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.]. Furthermore, nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as indicating an intent on the part of the Congress to change the existing relationship of other Federal laws to the law of a State, or a political subdivision of a State, or to relieve any person of any obligation imposed by any law of any State, tribe, or political subdivision of a State. No provision of this chapter shall be construed to invalidate any provision of State, tribal, or local law unless there is a direct conflict between such provision and the law of the State, or political subdivision of the State or tribe, so that the two cannot be reconciled or consistently stand together. Inconsistencies shall be reviewed by the task force, and the task force shall make recommendations concerning such local laws. This chapter shall in no way be interpreted to interfere with a State’s or tribe’s right to protect, rehabilitate, preserve, and restore lands within its established boundary.