The availability of appropriations from the Colorado River Development Fund for the investigation and construction of projects in any of the States of the Colorado River Basin shall not be held to forbid the expenditure of other funds for those purposes in any of those States where such funds are otherwise available therefor.

If, by reason of any act of God, or of the public enemy, or any major catastrophe, or any other unforeseen and unavoidable cause, the revenues, for any year of operation, after making provision for costs of operation, maintenance, and the amount to be set aside for said year for replacements, should be insufficient to make the payments to the States of Arizona and Nevada and the transfers to the Colorado River Development Fund in this subchapter provided for, such payments and transfers shall be proportionately reduced, as the Secretary may find to be necessary by reason thereof.

If at any time there shall be insufficient sums in the Colorado River Dam Fund to meet the cost of replacements, however necessitated, in addition to meeting the other requirements of this subchapter, or of regulations authorized hereby and promulgated by the Secretary, the Secretary of the Treasury, upon request of the Secretary of the Interior, shall readvance to the said fund, in amounts not exceeding, in the aggregate, moneys repaid to the Treasury pursuant to section 618a(b) of this title, the amount required for replacements, however necessitated, in excess of the amount currently available therefor in said Colorado River Dam Fund. There is authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums, not exceeding said aggregate amount, as may be necessary to permit the Secretary of the Treasury to make such readvances. All such readvances shall bear interest.

Whenever by the terms of the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] or this subchapter payment of interest is provided for, and whenever interest shall enter into any computation thereunder, such interest shall be computed at the rate of 3 per centum per annum, compounded annually: Provided, That the respective rates of interest on appropriated funds advanced for the visitor facilities program, as described in section 619(a) of this title, shall be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, taking into consideration average market yields on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States with remaining periods to maturity comparable to the reimbursement period of the program during the month preceding the fiscal year in which the costs of the program are incurred. To the extent that more than one interest rate is determined pursuant to the preceding sentence, the Secretary of the Treasury shall establish for repayment purposes an interest rate at a weighted average of the rates so determined.

The first $25,000,000 of advances made to the Colorado River Dam Fund for the project shall be deemed to be the sum allocated to flood control by section 617a(b) of this title and repayment thereof shall be deferred without interest until June 1, 1987, after which time such advances so allocated to flood control shall be repayable to the Treasury as the Congress shall determine.

The Secretary is authorized to negotiate for and enter into a contract for the termination of the existing lease of the Hoover Power Plant made pursuant to the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.], and in the event of such termination the operation and maintenance, and the making of replacements, however necessitated, of the Hoover Power Plant by the United States, directly or through such agent or agents as the Secretary may designate, is authorized. The powers, duties, and rights of such agent or agents shall be provided by contract, which may include provision that questions relating to the interpretation or performance thereof may be determined, to the extent provided therein, by arbitration or court proceedings. The Secretary in consideration of such termination of such existing lease is authorized to agree (a) that the lessees therein named shall be designated as the agents of the United States for the operation of said power plant; (b) that (except by mutual consent or in accordance with such provisions for termination for default as may be specified therein) such agency contract shall not be revocable or terminable; and (c) that suits or proceedings to restrain the termination of any such agency contract, otherwise than as therein provided, or for other appropriate equitable relief or remedies, may be maintained against the Secretary. Suits or other court proceedings pursuant to the foregoing provisions may be maintained in, and jurisdiction to hear and determine such suits or proceedings and to grant such relief or remedies is conferred upon, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, with the like right of appeal or review as in other like suits or proceedings in said court. The Secretary is authorized to act for the United States in such arbitration proceedings.

This subchapter shall be effective immediately for the purpose of the promulgation of charges, or the basis of computation thereof, and the execution of contracts authorized by the terms of this subchapter, but neither such charges, nor the basis of computation thereof, nor any such contract, shall be effective unless and until this subchapter shall be effective for all purposes. This subchapter shall take effect for all purposes when, but not before, the Secretary shall have found that provision has been made for the termination of the existing lease of the Hoover Power Plant and for the operation thereof as authorized by section 618h of this title, and that allottees obligated under contracts in force on July 19, 1940 to pay for at least 90 per centum of the firm energy shall have entered into contracts (1) consenting to such operation, and (2) containing such other provisions as the Secretary may deem necessary or proper for carrying out the purposes of this subchapter. For purposes of this section such 90 per centum shall be computed as of the end of the absorption periods provided for in regulations heretofore promulgated by the Secretary and in effect on July 19, 1940.

If contracts in accordance with the requirements of this section shall not have been entered into prior to June 1, 1941, this subchapter shall cease to be operative and shall be of no further force or effect.

Any contractor for energy from the project failing or refusing to execute a contract modifying its existing contract to conform to this subchapter shall continue to pay the rates and charges provided for in its existing contract, subject to such periodic readjustments as are therein provided, in all respects as if this subchapter had not been passed, and so far as necessary to support such existing contract all of the provisions of the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] shall remain in effect, anything in this subchapter inconsistent therewith notwithstanding.

The following terms wherever used in this subchapter shall have the following respective meanings:

“Project Act” shall mean the Boulder Canyon Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.];

“Project” shall mean the works authorized by the Project Act to be constructed and owned by the United States, exclusive of the main canal and appurtenances mentioned therein, now known as the All-American Canal;

“Secretary” shall mean the Secretary of the Interior of the United States;

“Firm energy” and “allottees” shall have the meaning assigned to such terms in regulations promulgated before July 19, 1940, by the Secretary and in effect on July 19, 1940;

“Replacements” shall mean such replacements as may be necessary to keep the project in good operating condition beginning June 1, 1937, but shall not include (except where used in conjunction with the word “emergency” or the words “however necessitated”) replacements made necessary by any act of God, or of the public enemy, or by any major catastrophe; and

“Year of operation” shall mean the period from and including June 1 of any calendar year to and including May 31 of the following calendar year.

Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as interfering with such rights as the States had on July 19, 1940, either to the waters within their borders or to adopt such policies and enact such laws as they deem necessary with respect to the appropriation, control, and use of waters within their borders, except as modified by the Colorado River compact or other interstate agreement. Neither the promulgation of charges, or the basis of charges, nor anything contained in this subchapter, or done thereunder, shall in anywise affect, limit, or prejudice any right of any State in or to the waters of the Colorado River system under the Colorado River compact. Sections 13(b), 13(c), and 13(d) of the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617l(b), (c), and (d)] and all other provisions of said Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] not inconsistent with the terms of this subchapter shall remain in full force and effect.

All laborers and mechanics employed in the construction of any part of the project, or in the operation, maintenance, or replacement of any part of the Hoover Dam, shall be paid not less than the prevailing rate of wages or compensation for work of a similar nature prevailing in the locality of the project. In the event any dispute arises as to what are the prevailing rates, the determination thereof shall be made by the Secretary of the Interior, and his decision, subject to the concurrence of the Secretary of Labor, shall be final.

This subchapter may be cited as “Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act”.