Rural Jobs and Hydropower Expansion Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7487 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7487

 To amend the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 to encourage non-Federal 
 hydropower development with respect to Bureau of Reclamation projects.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 11, 2026

 Ms. Boebert (for herself and Mr. Gray) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 to encourage non-Federal 
 hydropower development with respect to Bureau of Reclamation projects.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Jobs and Hydropower Expansion 
Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO RECLAMATION PROJECT ACT.

    Section 9(c) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 1194) 
is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(1) The Secretary is authorized'' and 
        inserting ``The Secretary is authorized'';
            (2) by striking ``small conduit hydropower using Bureau of 
        Reclamation facilities and pumped storage hydropower 
        exclusively using Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs'' and 
        inserting ``hydropower using all Bureau of Reclamation 
        facilities'';
            (3) by striking ``No contract relating to municipal water 
        supply'' and inserting the following:
            ``(1) No contract relating to municipal water supply'';
            (4) in paragraph (2)(A)--
                    (A) by striking ``applicable transferred conduit'' 
                and inserting ``applicable transferred works 
                facility'';
                    (B) by striking ``applicable reserved conduit'' and 
                inserting ``applicable reserved works facility''; and
                    (C) by striking ``power privilege offer for a small 
                conduit'' and inserting ``power privilege offer for 
                the'';
            (5) in paragraph (3), by striking ``small conduit'' and 
        inserting ``applicable'';
            (6) in paragraph (4), by striking ``small conduit 
        hydropower'';
            (7) in paragraph (6)--
                    (A) by striking ``conduit'' before ``hydropower 
                generation''; and
                    (B) by striking ``transferred conduit'' and 
                inserting ``transferred works facility'';
            (8) in paragraph (7), by striking ``conduit'';
            (9) in paragraph (8)--
                    (A) by inserting ``(referred to in this section as 
                an `authorization')'' before ``issued by the Federal 
                Energy Regulatory Commission'';
                    (B) by striking ``August 9, 2013,'' and inserting 
                ``the date of the enactment of the Rural Jobs and 
                Hydropower Expansion Act''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end ``Any authorization issued 
                by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with 
                respect to a project shall remain in place until such 
                authorization becomes inactive. As allowed by the 
                Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an authorization 
                may be renewed and remain active. Once the 
                authorization becomes inactive, project site 
                jurisdiction shall shift to the Bureau of Reclamation 
                exclusively.'';
            (10) by redesignating paragraph (9) as paragraph (10);
            (11) by inserting after paragraph (8) the following:
            ``(9) Nothing in this section shall expand or otherwise 
        amend the Bureau of Reclamation lease of power privilege 
        authorities outside the project boundary.''; and
            (12) in paragraph (10), as so redesignated--
                    (A) by striking subparagraphs (A), (C), (D), and 
                (E);
                    (B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 
                subparagraph (A); and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Reserved works facility.--The term `reserved 
                works facility' means those facilities owned by the 
                Bureau of Reclamation where the Bureau of Reclamation 
                has retained responsibility for carrying out operation 
                and maintenance activities.
                    ``(C) Transferred works facility.--The term 
                `transferred works facility' means a project facility 
                where the operations and maintenance of that facility 
                is carried out by a non-Federal entity under the 
                provisions of a formal operations and maintenance 
                transfer contract.''.
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