43 U.S.C. § 503 — ‘‘Unusual or emergency conditions’’ defined

Page 177 TITLE 43—PUBLIC LANDS § 504 Pub. L. 92–134, title III, Oct. 5, 1971, 85 Stat. 370. Pub. L. 91–144, title III, Dec. 11, 1969, 83 Stat. 331. Pub. L. 89–689, title II, Oct. 15, 1966, 80 Stat. 1008. Pub. L. 88–511, title II, Aug. 30, 1964, 78 Stat. 687. Pub. L. 87–880, title II, Oct. 24, 1962, 76 Stat. 1221. TEMPORARY AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OF THE INTE- RIOR TO FACILITATE EMERGENCY ACTIONS WITH RE- GARD TO 1976–1977 DROUGHT Pub. L. 95–18, Apr. 7, 1977, 91 Stat. 36, as amended by Pub. L. 95–107, Aug. 17, 1977, 91 Stat. 870; Pub. L. 95–226, Feb. 7, 1978, 92 Stat. 10, directed Secretary of the Inte- rior to undertake construction, management and con- servation activities designed to mitigate losses and damages to Federal reclamation projects and Indian ir- rigation projects resulting from 1976–1977 drought, to assist willing buyers in purchasing available water sup- plies from willing sellers, and to undertake studies of potential facilities to mitigate effects of a recurrence of drought and make recommendations to President and Congress evaluating potential undertakings, au- thorized Secretary to defer, without penalty, the 1977 installment payments on charges owed the United States and to make loans to irrigators for construc- tion, management, conservation activities, or acquisi- tion and transportation of water, appropriated $100,000,000 to carry out provisions of this Act and spec- ified the availability of such funds for expenditures, di- rected Secretary, not later than May 1, 1978, to provide President and Congress a complete report on expendi- tures and accomplishments, and provided that authori- ties conferred by this Act terminate on Nov. 30, 1977. Executive Documents TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS For transfer of functions of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with cer- tain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out under section 1451 of this title. § 503. ‘‘Unusual or emergency conditions’’ defined The term ‘‘unusual or emergency conditions’’, as used in section 502 of this title, shall be con- strued to mean canal bank failures, generator failures, damage to transmission lines; or other physical failures or damage, or acts of God, or of the public enemy, fires, floods, drought, epidemics, strikes, or freight embargoes, or con- ditions, causing or threatening to cause inter- ruption in water or power service. (June 26, 1948, ch. 676, § 2, 62 Stat. 1052.) § 504. Rehabilitation and betterment of Federal reclamation projects, including small rec- lamation projects; return of costs; interest; definitions; performance of work Expenditures of funds hereafter specifically appropriated for rehabilitation and betterment of any project constructed under authority of the Small Reclamation Projects Act (Act of Au- gust 6, 1956, 70 Stat. 1044, and Acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto) [43 U.S.C. 422a et seq.] and of irrigation systems on projects governed by the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902, 32 Stat. 388, and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto), shall be made only after the organizations con- cerned shall have obligated themselves for the return thereof, in installments fixed in accord- ance with their ability to pay, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior in the light of their outstanding repayment obligations, and which shall, to the fullest practicable extent, be sched- uled for return with their construction charge installments or otherwise scheduled as he shall determine: Provided, That repayment of such loans made for small reclamation projects shall include interest in accordance with the provi- sions of said Small Reclamation Projects Act. No such determination of the Secretary of the Interior shall become effective until the expira- tion of sixty days after it has been submitted to the Committee on Energy and Natural Re- sources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representa- tives; except that, any such determination may become effective prior to the expiration of such sixty days in any case in which each such com- mittee approves an earlier date and notifies the Secretary in writing, of such approval: Provided, That when Congress is not in session the Sec- retary’s determination, if accompanied by a finding by the Secretary that substantial hard- ship to the water users concerned or substantial further injury to the project works will result, shall become effective when the chairman and ranking minority member of each such com- mittee shall file with the Secretary their writ- ten approval of said findings. The term ‘‘reha- bilitation and betterment’’, as used in this sec- tion, shall mean maintenance, including re- placements, which cannot be financed currently, as otherwise contemplated by the Federal rec- lamation laws in the case of operation and maintenance costs, but shall not include con- struction, the costs of which are returnable, in whole or in part, through ‘‘construction charges’’ as that term is defined in section 485a(d) of this title. Such rehabilitation and bet- terment work may be performed by contract, by force-account, or, notwithstanding any other law and subject to such reasonable terms and conditions as the Secretary of the Interior shall deem appropriate for the protection of the United States, by contract entered into with the organization concerned whereby such organiza- tion shall perform such work. (Oct. 7, 1949, ch. 650, § 1, 63 Stat. 724; Mar. 3, 1950, ch. 47, 64 Stat. 11; Pub. L. 94–102, Oct. 3, 1975, 89 Stat. 485; Pub. L. 103–437, § 16(c), Nov. 2, 1994, 108 Stat. 4594.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT The Small Reclamation Projects Act, referred to in text, probably means the Small Reclamation Projects Act of 1956, act Aug. 6, 1956, ch. 972, 70 Stat. 1044, which is classified generally to subchapter IV (§ 422a et seq.) of this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 422k of this title and Tables. Act of June 17, 1902, referred to in text, is popularly known as the Reclamation Act, which is classified gen- erally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 371 of this title and Tables. AMENDMENTS 1994—Pub. L. 103–437 substituted ‘‘Committee on En- ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Com- mittee on Natural Resources of the House’’ for ‘‘Com- mittee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Public Lands of the House’’.