The House is scheduled to consider H.R. 2950 under suspension of the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority vote for passage, on Tuesday, September 29. H.R. 2950 was introduced on June 18, 2009, by Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources which reported the bill by unanimous consent on September 10, 2009.
H.R. 2950 alters a repayment agreement between the U.S. government and the Uintah Water Conservancy District and allows the district to make prepayments on their debt. The legislation allows the Uintah Water Conservancy District to provide the repayment in several installments, allows the repayment to be adjusted to conform to a final cost allocation, prohibits the prepayment from being adjusted based on the districts prepayment financing, and requires that the final repayment be made by the end of FY 2019.
The Jensen Unit of the Uintah Water Conservancy District in northeastern Utah includes the Red Fleet Dam and Reservoir on Big Brush Creek, a tributary of the Green River. Construction of the dam began in 1977, with some federal funds as authorized by the Colorado River Storage Project Act of 1956. The Uintah Water Conservancy District now owes the federal government for some of the costs of building the dam. H.R. 2950 would authorize the Uintah Water Conservancy District to prepay the federal government for development of water from the Red Fleet dam and allow them to save some interest. Under current law, prepayments are not allowed because of stipulations in the contract. Under current law, the Uintah Water Conservancy District must repay the federal government by 2037.
For more information on the Jensen Unit of the Uintah Water Conservancy District, see the Bureau of Reclamation's website: http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp?proj_Name=Central+Utah+Project+-+Jensen+Unit
A CBO score for H.R. 2950 is not yet available.
