Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act
Latest action. By Senator Wyden from Committee on Energy and Natural Resources filed written report. Report No. 113-35.
Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act - Amends the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior (acting through the Bureau of Reclamation) to contract for the development of small conduit hydropower at Bureau facilities.
Defines: (1) "small conduit hydropower" as 5 megawatts or less; and (2) "conduit" as a tunnel, canal, pipeline, aqueduct, flume, ditch, or similar manmade water conveyance.
Requires that power privilege leases be offered first to an irrigation district or water users association operating or receiving water from the applicable transferred or reserved conduit.
Defines: (1) reserved conduit as any conduit included in project works whose care, operation, and maintenance has been reserved by the Secretary (through the Bureau); and (2) transferred conduit as any conduit included in project works whose care, operation, and maintenance has been transferred to a legally organized water users association or irrigation district.
Requires the Secretary, if the irrigation district or water users association elects not accept a lease of power privilege offer, to offer it to other parties.
Directs the Bureau to apply its categorical exclusion process under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to small conduit hydropower development, except with respect to siting of associated transmission facilities on federal lands.
(A "categorical exclusion" under NEPA is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations and for which, therefore, neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is required.)
Makes the Bureau's Power Resources Office the lead office for such small conduit hydropower policy and procedure-setting activities. (Thus excludes such activities from the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [FERC].)
Declares that nothing in this Act shall: (1) obligate specified power administrations to purchase or market the power produced by such facilities; (2) alter or impede the delivery and management of water for original project purposes; (3) alter or affect any existing agreements for conduit hydropower development projects or disposition of revenues; or (4) alter or affect any existing preliminary permit, license, or exemption issued by FERC or any project for which an application has been filed with FERC as of the date of the enactment of this Act. Deems water used for conduit hydropower generation to be incidental to use of water for the original project purposes.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to Senate with amendment(s)" stage on May 13, 2013. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 3, 2013: By Senator Wyden from Committee on Energy and Natural Resources filed written report. Report No. 113-35.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced it on February 13, 2013, and 4 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 4 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 13, 2013, 4957 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4847 days ago, on June 3, 2013.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers