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Effective Date: 7/15/86

Series: Delegation

Part 255: Bureau of Reclamation

Chapter 1: General Program Delegation - Commissioner of Reclamation

Originating Office: Bureau of Reclamation

1.1 Delegation. The Commissioner of Reclamation is authorized within the limitations specified in 200 DM 1 and in 255 DM 1.2, to:

A. Perform the functions and exercise the authority now or hereafter vested in the Secretary of the Interior, or in the Department of the Interior, by:

(1) The Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388; 43 U.S.C. 391 et seq.), and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto:

(2) The Water Conservation and Utilization Act of August 11, 1939 (53 Stat. 1418; 16 U.S.C. 590y et seq.), as amended;

(3) The Warren Act of February 21, 1911 (36 Stat. 925; 43 U.S.C. 523 et seq.);

(4) The Fort Peck Project Act of May 18, 1938 (52 Stat. 403; 16 U.S.C. 833 et seq.), as amended:

(5) The Hungry Horse Dam Act of June 5, 1944 (58 Stat. 270; 43 U.S.C. 593a et seq.);

(6) The Colorado River Front Work and Levee System Act of January 21, 1927 (44 Stat. 1010, 1021), as amended;

(7) The Act of August 31, 1954 (68 Stat. 1045), relating to the Palo Verde Irrigation District;

(8) The Coulee Dam Community Act of 1957 (71 Stat. 524; 16 U.S.C. 853c, note);

(9) The Federal Water Project Recreation Act of 1965 (79 Stat. 213; 16 U.S.C. 4601-18), for areas under his/her jurisdiction;

(10) The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (78 Stat. 897; 16 U.S.C. 4601-4 et seq.), as amended. The authorities of the Commissioner under this act shall be restricted to designating areas under his/her jurisdiction at which recreation fees will be established, establishing specific fees to be charged at designated areas, and posting designated areas as recreation fee areas;

(11) Section 8 of the Flood Control Act of 1944 (58 Stat. 887), for areas under his/her jurisdiction;

(12) Section 303 of the Colorado River Basin Project Act of September 30, 1968 (82 Stat. 885; 43 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.), to the extent not already delegated under (1) above;

(13) The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act of June 24, 1974 (88 Stat. 266), to the extent not already delegated under (1) above;

(14) The Reclamation Safety of Dams Act of 1978; (92 Stat. 2471), as amended;

(15) Section 203 of FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. 1713, where the land being sold is land that is either protectively or formerly withdrawn for reclamation purposes;

(16) Section 3 of the Act of October 30, 1984 (98 Stat. 2823) to negotiate and execute cooperative agreements with local law enforcement agencies, and take other actions authorized by section 3;

(17) The Hoover Power Plant Act of 1984 (98 Stat. 1333; 43 U.S.C. 619 et seq.), for areas under his/her jurisdiction.

B. Act on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior in carrying out the provisions of contracts heretofore or hereafter executed pursuant to any of the foregoing acts as specified in 255 DM 1.1C.

C. Water Service, Repayment, and Miscellaneous Contracts. The Commissioner of Reclamation is authorized to approve and execute the following types of contracts:

(1) Repayment contracts pursuant to sections 9(c)(1) or 9(d) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, the Water Supply Act of 1958, the Federal Water Project Recreation Act of 1965, and the Reclamation Safety of Dams Act of 1978, including amendments thereto, for repayment obligations up to $50 million;

(2) Repayment contracts pursuant to section 9(c)(1) and 9(d) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, for repayment of Federal costs of constructing non-Indian distribution systems as authorized by section 309(b) of the Colorado River Basin Project Act of September 30, 1968 (82 Stat. 885);

(3) Water service, water right settlement, storage, exchange or replacement contracts pursuant to sections 9(c)(2), 9(e), or 14 of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, or the Act of February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 451) for annual water deliveries/storage up to 100,000 acre-feet;

(4) Water service subcontracts pursuant to the Colorado River Basin Project Act of September 30, 1968 (82 Stat. 885), as amended, providing for water delivery from the Central Arizona Project to non-Indian entities which have been allocated a supply of water from said Project by the Secretary of the Interior, including amendments thereto which are required to facilitate conversion of water from agricultural to municipal and industrial purposes;

(5) Permanent contracts to furnish domestic, municipal and industrial, and irrigation water from the mainstem of the Colorado River, up to 127,000 acre-feet per year in Arizona, and up to 5,000 acre-feet per year in California, to users and potential users not included in Federal water projects, and Indian tribes, pursuant to the Boulder Canyon Project Act of December 21, 1928 (45 Stat. 1057), the Supreme Court Supplemental Decree of January 9, 1979 (Arizona v. California), the contract with the State of Arizona dated February 9, 1944, and recommendations for contracts to the Secretary of the Interior by the Arizona Department of Water Resources;

(6) Extension of the June 14, 1972, contract with Mexico for delivery of part of Mexico=s Colorado River water entitlements to the city of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, in amounts specified in Minute No. 240, dated June 13, 1972, of the International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico;

(7) Repayment contracts pursuant to the Small Reclamation Projects Act of 1956 (Public Law 84-984), as amended, and the Distribution System Loans Act (Public Law 84-130), as amended, and the Rehabilitation and Betterment Act (Public Law 81-335), as amended, including amendments and supplements thereto, for repayment obligations up to $50 million;

(8) Deferment contracts pursuant to the Act of September 21, 1959 (Public Law 86-308);

(9) Drainage and minor construction contracts pursuant to the Acts of June 13, 1956 (Public Law 84-575), and October 1, 1962 (Public Law 87-728);

(10) Emergency fund repayment contracts pursuant to the Act of June 26, 1948 (Public Law 80-790);

(11) Contracts for the transfer of care, operation, and maintenance of Federal works and facilities to water users= organizations;

(12) Recordable contracts covering excess lands; and

(13) Amendatory contracts for the purpose of bringing contracting entities under the expanded acreage limitation provisions of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982.

1.2 Limitations. Excepted from 255 DM 1 is authority to:

A. Take action in matters for which authority has been delegated on a functional basis in 205 DM;

B. Acquire any interest in property by condemnation;

C. Make the findings authorizing construction of a new project, new division of a project, or supplemental works on a project, in accordance with subsection (a) of Section 9 of the Reclamation Projects Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 1187; 1193; 43 U.S.C. 485h(a));

D. Act for the Secretary of the Interior in approving and adopting project feasibility reports as the Secretary=s report to the President and to the Congress;

E. Certify for the Secretary of the Interior as to the adequacy of soil surveys and land classification, and as to the productivity of land, as a condition precedent to the initiation of construction, in accordance with the Interior Department Appropriation Act, 1954 (67 Stat. 261, 266; 43 U.S.C. 390a);

F. Execute and issue Public Notices opening lands to homestead entry and Public Announcements offering lands for sale; however, this limitation shall not prohibit the amendment of such Public Notices or Public Announcements and their publication in the Federal Register by the Commissioner of Reclamation when, in his/her judgment, adjustments in provisions thereof are in the best interest of sound project development and such adjustments do not modify the basic requirements for homestead entry on public lands of the United States;

G. Establish rates for Aproject use@ power and energy; and

H. Withdraw public lands.

1.3 Redelegation. The Commissioner of Reclamation may, in writing, redelegate to officers and employees of the Bureau of Reclamation the authority granted in 255 DM 1.1, and he/she may authorize written redelegations of such authority.

1.4 Exercise of Authority. The following administrative instructions, additional to those elsewhere prescribed, shall be observed by officers and employees of the Bureau of Reclamation in the exercise of the legal authority delegated by 255 DM 1 or redelegated pursuant to it.

A. Lands. A cooperative agreement under section 307 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) shall be executed with the Bureau of Land Management before taking action:

(1) Survey, subdivide, or sell withdrawn public lands for townsite purposes under the provisions of section 203(a)(3) of FLPMA;

(2) Survey, subdivide, or sell withdrawn public land for agricultural purposes under section 203(b) of FLPMA;

(3) Effect exchanges involving public lands under section 206 of FLPMA;

(4) Survey, subdivide, or sell Reclamation lands protectively withdrawn for Reclamation purposes on which there is no authorized or constructed projects;

(5) Survey, subdivide, or sell formerly withdrawn Reclamation lands;

(6) Excepted from the above requirement is the exchange of lands within the Columbia Basin and Gila projects and the sale of townsite lots, withdrawn prior to October 21, 1976, under the authority of 43 U.S.C. 561, or 43 U.S.C. 568, or the act of March 2, 1929.

7/15/86 #2693

Replaces 5/14/85 #2638