§1523 Power Requirements of Central Arizona Project and Augmentation of Lower Colorado River Basin Development Fund

Summary

The Secretary must finish engineering and money studies and pick the best plan to provide power for the Central Arizona Project and to add money to the Lower Colorado River Basin Development Fund. The plan can include building hydroelectric plants and transmission, buying electricity, buying a share of plant capacity, or any mix of those things, and can involve non‑Federal partners. Nothing allows studying or building dams on the main Colorado River between Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam. If the plan includes buying capacity from non‑Federal thermal power plants, the Secretary can make agreements to get part of their capacity and delivery to agreed points. Any power not needed for the Project can be sold for other uses, possibly bundled with Federal power sales to get better firm rates. Agreements must limit the U.S. to paying only its share of construction costs (not including interest during construction), based on the share of capacity it gets; the U.S. can pay in stages during design and construction, but no construction money (beyond preconstruction) is paid until all needed contracts about land, water, fuel, power, rights‑of‑way, transmission and similar matters are in place. Operation and maintenance costs are shared fairly by the same ratios; the U.S. pays for depreciation only as allowed when replacements are funded by the non‑Federal partner. The U.S. gets credit for any Federal land used, and U.S. costs do not include interest, financing charges, franchise fees, or other costs listed in the agreement. The Secretary must send the recommended plan to Congress by September 30, 1969, and the plan does not take effect until Congress approves it, except for actions already allowed under the agreements with non‑Federal plants. If a thermal plant in Arizona uses water diverted from the Colorado River basin above Lee Ferry, that water use counts toward Arizona’s 50,000 acre‑feet per year share under the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact.