[House Report 111-269]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
111th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session 111-269
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DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO ALLOW FOR PREPAYMENT OF
REPAYMENT CONTRACTS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE UINTAH WATER
CONSERVANCY DISTRICT
_______
September 29, 2009.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on
the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Rahall, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted the
following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 2950]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the
bill (H.R. 2950) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to
allow for prepayment of repayment contracts between the United
States and the Uintah Water Conservancy District, having
considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment
and recommend that the bill as amended do pass.
The amendment is as follows:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. PREPAYMENT OF CERTAIN REPAYMENT CONTRACTS BETWEEN THE UNITED
STATES AND THE UINTAH WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT.
The Secretary of the Interior shall allow for prepayment of the
repayment contract no. 6-05-01-00143 between the United States and the
Uintah Water Conservancy District dated June 3, 1976, and supplemented
and amended on November 1, 1985, and on December 30, 1992, providing
for repayment of municipal and industrial water delivery facilities for
which repayment is provided pursuant to such contract, under terms and
conditions similar to those used in implementing section 210 of the
Central Utah Project Completion Act (Public Law 102-575), as amended.
The prepayment--
(1) shall result in the United States recovering the net
present value of all repayment streams that would have been
payable to the United States if this Act was not in effect;
(2) may be provided in several installments to reflect
substantial completion of the delivery facilities being
prepaid, and any increase in the repayment obligation resulting
from delivery of water in addition to the water being delivered
under this contract as of the date of enactment of this Act;
(3) shall be adjusted to conform to a final cost allocation
including costs incurred by the Bureau of Reclamation, but
unallocated as of the date of the enactment of this Act that
are allocable to the water delivered under this contract;
(4) may not be adjusted on the basis of the type of
prepayment financing used by the District; and
(5) shall be made such that total repayment is made not later
than September 30, 2019.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 2950 is to direct the Secretary of the
Interior to allow for prepayment of repayment contracts between
the United States and the Uintah Water Conservancy District.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
At the time of its construction in the mid-1980s, the
Jensen Unit of the Central Utah Project was to provide 18,000
acre feet (AF) of municipal and industrial (M&I) water to the
residents of Uintah County, Utah. 6,000 AF were to be developed
with the construction of the Red Fleet Dam and another 12,000
AF were to be developed at a later date with the construction
of the Burns Bench Pump Station on the Green River near Jensen,
Utah. Due to economic conditions during the construction time
period, only 2,000 AF of the 6,000 AF provided by the Red Fleet
Dam were subscribed to and the Burns Bench Pump Station was
never built.
The Burns Bench Pump Station cannot be constructed as part
of the Jensen Unit until contractors subscribe to all water
provided by the Red Fleet Dam. Though still not entirely
subscribed to, almost all of the water provided by the Red
Fleet Dam is now being contracted for M&I purposes. The Bureau
of Reclamation wants to do a final cost allocation on the
Jensen Unit to determine the final price of project water. If
that final cost allocation were done without developing the
Burns Bench Pumping Station, the cost of water per AF would be
approximately $450 as opposed to $180 per AF, which would be
the price of water if the entire project is developed.
The Uintah Water Conservancy District does not want a final
cost allocation to be performed that does not contemplate the
construction of the Burns Bench Pump Station. Further, the
District wants to repay the government early instead of making
payments over the next several decades. However, no prepayment
of contracts can occur under the current body of Reclamation
law without an act of Congress to authorize such prepayment.
H.R. 2950 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to
allow for prepayment of the repayment contract for the Jensen
Unit between the United States and the District. The prepayment
would include payment for the capital cost of the yet
unfinished Burns Bench Pumping Station. The legislation does
not defer or relieve any existing debt payment the District
owes to the federal government in any way. Further, the
Congress has previously authorized similar prepayment authority
for the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 2950 was introduced on June 18, 2009, by Rep. Jim
Matheson (D-UT). The bill was referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee
on Water and Power. On July 21, 2009, the Subcommittee held a
hearing on the bill.
On September 10, 2009, the Subcommittee was discharged from
further consideration of H.R. 2950 and the full Natural
Resources Committee met to consider the bill. Subcommittee
Chairwoman Napolitano (D-CA) offered an amendment in the nature
of a substitute to make technical corrections to the bill. The
amendment was adopted by unanimous consent. The bill, as
amended, was then ordered favorably reported to the House of
Representatives by unanimous consent .
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1. Prepayment of certain repayment contracts between the United
States and the Uintah Water Conservancy District
Section 1 provides that the Secretary of the Interior shall
allow the Uintah Water Conservancy District to prepay the
federal government for the cost of municipal and industrial
water delivery facilities that were financed by the United
States. The section further provides that prepayment shall
reflect the net present value of the debt the District owes to
the government, and that the District may prepay the debt in
several installments, though the debt must be prepaid in-full
by September 30, 2019. The prepayment shall be adjusted to
conform to any final cost allocation, as determined by the
Bureau of Reclamation, and may not be adjusted based on the
type of financing used by the District to prepay the debt.
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.
CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT
Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United
States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B)
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2)
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in
revenues or tax expenditures.
3. 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 repeat long title of bill; if long
title is amended, use of this bill, as ordered reported, is to
direct the Secretary of the Interior to allow for prepayment of
repayment contracts between the United States and the Uintah
Water Conservancy District..
4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office:
H.R. 2950--A bill to allow prepayment of certain repayment contracts
between the United States and the Uintah Water Conservancy
District
H.R. 2950 would allow the Uintah Water Conservancy District
in Utah to prepay the net present value of certain amounts the
district owes to the U.S. Treasury for its share of the cost to
build the Jensen Unit of the Central Utah Project. Under
current law the district is expected to make annual payments
totaling about $6 million over the 2010-2019 period and about
$12 million more after 2020.
Based on information from the Bureau of Reclamation, CBO
estimates that enacting H.R. 2950 would result in a payment
from the district of about $10 million in 2010. Following that
payment, the district would no longer have to make annual
payments to the Treasury. The net effect of those changes over
the 2010-2019 period would be an increase in offsetting
receipts totaling $7 million over the 2010-2014 period and $4
million over the 2010-2019 period. Over the 2010-2037 period
the bill would result in a net loss of receipts totaling about
$8 million. Enacting the legislation would not affect revenues.
For this estimate, CBO assumes that H.R. 2950 will be
enacted near the beginning of fiscal year 2010. While the bill
would allow the district to repay the costs by the end of
fiscal year 2019, CBO assumes that they would choose to make
one lump sum payment upon enactment of the bill. As required by
the bill, this estimate includes the costs currently allocated
to the project as well as those expected to be included in the
final cost allocation. For this estimate, CBO used its
projection of the 30-year Treasury rate for 2010--4.86
percent--as the discount rate to calculate the district's
estimated prepayment.
H.R. 2950 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on State, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Aurora Swanson.
The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
EARMARK STATEMENT
H.R. 2950 does not contain any congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in
clause 9(d), 9(e) or 9(f) of rule XXI.
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 in existing
law.