PoliticalRepoPoliticalRepo

United States · Law · S

S. 538 (105th)

A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain facilities of the Minidoka project to the Burley Irrigation District, and for other purposes.

enactedUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

9 April 1997

Last action

—

Status

Became Public Law No: 105-351.

Sponsors

—

Subjects

Discovery layer

Source updated

24 March 2026

Official sourceDownload fileView documentsShare

Summary

Directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey to Burley Irrigation District, by quitclaim deed or patent, withdrawn and acquired lands, easements and rights-of-way of the Southside Pumping Division of the Minidoka Project, Idaho, together with improvements or appurtenances to the land or used for the delivery of water from the headworks of the Southside Canal at the Minidoka Dam and reservoir to the land within the District, including the electric transmission lines used for the operation of the pumping facilities of the Project for which allocable construction costs have been fully repaid. Requires the cost of such transfer and related activities to be equally shared between the United States and the District up to a total cost of $80,000, at which time the United States shall pay all remaining costs. Requires the Secretary to transfer to the District all natural flow, waste, seepage, return flow and groundwater rights held by the Secretary for the benefit of, and for the use on, the land within the District. Affirms the allocation of storage space in Minidoka, American Falls, and Palisades reservoirs to the District in accordance with the terms of specified contracts, subject to the requirement that the District continue to assume its allocable costs of operation and maintenance associated with such storage facilities. Requires the Secretary: (1) to continue to provide the District with a permanent right to project reserve power from specified power plants; and (2) upon the decision of the Federal Government to transfer ownership to the Minidoka Power Plant or Dam, to grant to those entities entitled to storage water in Lake Walcott under Federal spaceholder contracts a right of first refusal to acquire such Power Plant or Dam and related facilities. Requires the District to continue to recognize the right of Minidoka Irrigation District to joint use of the gravity portion of the Southside Canal being transferred to the District, under specified conditions. Requires the Secretary to complete the transfer no later than two years after the enactment of this Act. Provides that if the transfer is not completed by January 1, 2000, the U.S. title and interest cited in this Act shall be conveyed to the District on that date by operation of law.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

13 official files

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.

Sources

PoliticalRepo is an index and interpretation layer, not the authoritative legal source.