43 U.S.C. § 600c: Nonreimbursable costs

Summary

Only the part of the project’s building costs that pays for flood control, and the part that pays for preserving and growing fish and wildlife if the President approves a suitable plan, will not have to be repaid. Operation and maintenance costs tied to those same purposes also will not have to be repaid. Even if an earlier report said something else, these are the nonreimbursable items. Construction cannot start and no contract can be signed until Congress approves the interstate compact among New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas agreed to at Santa Fe on December 6, 1950, under Public Law 491, Eighty‑first Congress, and until a repayment plan is in place. That plan must assure repayment of the municipal and industrial water share of construction costs plus interest. The interest rate will equal the average long‑term rate the United States is paying when the deal is made, minus any net revenues from temporary water contracts or other sources earned before repayment ends. The repayment contract must be with one central organization, be acceptable to the Secretary, and run no more than fifty years from completion of the municipal and industrial water work. The contract must give its holder a first right to a stated share of the project’s water during repayment and a permanent right afterward (subject to paying U.S. operation and maintenance costs), move care and operation of delivery pipes used only for that water to the holder or its designee when practical, and transfer title to those pipes once all project obligations are paid.

Title 43, §600c

Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Construction, operation, and maintenance costs

Notwithstanding any recommendations in the report mentioned in section 600b of this title to the contrary, only the costs of construction allocable to flood control and, upon approval by the President of a suitable plan thereof, to the preservation and propagation of fish and wildlife, and operation and maintenance costs allocable to the same purposes, shall be nonreimbursable.

(b)Conditions precedent to construction

Actual construction of the project herein authorized shall not be commenced, and no construction contract awarded therefor, until (1) the Congress shall have consented to the interstate compact between the States of New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas agreed upon by the Canadian River Compact Commission at Santa Fe, New Mexico, December 6, 1950, in conformity with Public Law 491, Eighty-first Congress, and (2) repayment of that portion of the actual cost of constructing the project which is allocated to municipal and industrial water supply and of interest on the unamortized balance thereof at a rate (which rate shall be certified by the Secretary of the Treasury) equal to the average rate paid by the United States on its long-term loans outstanding at the time the repayment contract is negotiated minus the amount of such net revenues as may be derived from temporary water supply contracts or from other sources prior to the close of the repayment period, shall have been assured by a contract satisfactory to the Secretary, with one central repayment contract organization, the term of which shall not exceed fifty years from the date of completion of the municipal and industrial water supply features of the project as determined by the Secretary.

(c)Repayment contract

The repayment contract shall provide, among other things, (1) that the holder thereof shall have a first right, to which right the rights of the holders of any other type of contract shall be subordinate, to a stated share or quantity of the project’s available water supply for use by its constituent industrial and municipal water users during the repayment period and a permanent right to such share or quantity thereafter subject to payment of such costs as may be incurred by the United States in its operation and maintenance of any part of the project works; (2) that, subject to such rules and regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the care, operation, and maintenance of such portions of the pipeline and related facilities as are used solely for delivering such water to the contract holder and its constituent organizations shall, as soon as is practicable after completion of the municipal and industrial water supply features of the project, pass to the contract holder or to an organization which is designated by it for that purpose and which is satisfactory to the Secretary; and (3) that title to such portions of the pipeline and related facilities shall in like manner pass to the contract holder or its designee or designees upon payment to the United States of all obligations arising under section 600b and 600c of this title or incurred in connection with the project.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Public Law 491, Eighty-first Congress, referred to in subsec. (b), is act Apr. 29, 1950, ch. 135, 64 Stat. 93, which is set out as a note below.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Consent of Congress to CompactAct Apr. 29, 1950, ch. 135, 64 Stat. 93, provided: “That the consent of the Congress is hereby given to the States of Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico to negotiate and enter into a compact not later than June 30, 1953, providing for an equitable apportionment among the said States of the waters of the Canadian River and its tributaries, upon the condition that one suitable person, who shall be appointed by the President of the United States, shall participate in said negotiations as the representative of the United States and shall make report to the Congress of the proceedings and of any compact entered into. Said compact shall not be binding or obligatory upon any of the parties thereto unless and until the same shall have been ratified by the legislature of each of the States aforesaid and approved by the Congress of the United States.”

§600c Nonreimbursable Costs