ngton comprising a part of the lands within the project at prices ot to exceed their appraised values, determined as provided in ubsection 2 (a) hereof.

"SEC. 10. If any provision of this Act or the application of such rovision to any person or circumstances shall be held invalid, the emainder of the Act and the application of such provision to ersons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held nvalid shall not be affected thereby.

"SEO. 11. This Act may be cited as "The Columbia Basin Project Act'"

Approved March 10, 1943.

36-929 O-79-11

[CHAPTER 234-2D SESSION]

(H. R. 3570]

AN ACT

To provide for the partial construction of the Hungry Horse Dam on the South Fork of the Flathead River in the State of Montana, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the purpose of irrigation and reclamation of arid lands, for controlling floods, improving navigation, regulating the flow of the South Fork of the Flathead River, for the generation of electric energy, and for other beneficial uses primarily in the State of Montana but also in downstream areas, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to proceed as soon as practicable with the construction, operation, and maintenance of the proposed Hungry Horse Dam (including facilities for generating electric energy) on the South Fork of the Flathead River, Flathead County, Montana, to such a height as may be necessary to impound not less than one million acre-feet of water.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to complete, as soon as the necessary additional material is available, the construction of the Hungry Horse Dam so as to provide a storage reservoir of the maximum usable and feasible capacity.

SEO. 3. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to construct, operate, and maintain under the provisions of the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902, 32 Stat. 388 and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto), such additional works as he may deem necessary for irrigation purposes. Such irrigation works may.be undertaken only after a report and findings thereon have been made by the Secretary of the Interior as provided in such Federal reclamation laws; and, within the limits of the water users' repayment ability, such report may be predicated on allocation to irrigation of an appropriate portion of the cost of constructing said dam and reservoir. Said dam and reservoir and said irrigation works may be utilized for irrigation purposes only pursuant to the provisions of said Federal reclamation laws.

SEC. 4. There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.

Approved June 5, 1944.

[CHAPTER 602-2D SESSION]

[S. 1597]

AN ACT

To amend section 1, Act of June 29, 1940 (54 Stat. 703), for the acquisition of Indian lands for the Grand Coulee Dam and Reservoir, and for other purposes. da_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first paragraph of section 1 of the Act approved June 29, 1940 (54 Stat. 703), cibe amended to read as follows: "That, in aid of the construction, cooperation and maintenance of the Columbia Basin project (formerly the Grand Coulee Dam project), authorized by the Act of August 30, 1935 (49 Stat. 1028), the Act of August 4, 1939 (53 Stat. 1187), and the Columbia Basin Project Act (Public, Numbered 8, Seventy-eighth Congress, first session, 57 Stat. 14), there is hereby granted to the United States, subject to the provisions of this Act, (a) all the right,. title, and interest of the Indians in and to the tribal and allotted lands within the Spokane and Colville Reservations, including sites of agency and school buildings and related structures and unsold lands in the Klaxta town site, as may be designated therefor by the Secretary of the Interior from time to time: Provided, That no lands shall be taken for reservoir purposes above the elevation of one thousand three hundred and ten feet above sea level as shown by General Land Office surveys, except in Klaxta town site and except where in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior, special circumstances concerning the reservoir or its operation and maintenance require the taking of land above that elevation; and (b) such other interests in or to any such lands and property within these reservations as may be required and as may be designated by the Secretary of the Interior from time to time for the construction of pipe lines, highways, railroads, telegraph, telephone, and electric-transmission lines in connection with the project, or for the relocation or reconstruction of such facilities made necessary by the construction of the project."

Approved December 16, 1944.

[CHAPTER 320—1ST SESSION]

[H. R. 1656]

AN ACT

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to modify the provisions of a contract for the purchase of a power plant for use in connection with the San Carlos irrigation project.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed, with the consent of the Christmas Copper Corporation, to extend to December 31, 1946, the provisions of the contract entered into on June 19, 1942, whereby the United States agreed to purchase the Diesel electric-generating plant of said corporation for use in connection with the San Carlos Indian irrigation project, and whereby said corporation agreed to accept delivery of electric energy from the United States prior to December 31, 1944, in partial payment for such plant; to modify the contract thus extended so as to require that electric energy delivered to said corporation during the period beginning January 1, 1945, be paid for by credit under the contract at the rates established by the general rates schedule for the San Carlos Indian irrigation project system in effect at the time of delivery; and to delete from the contract the provision reserving a first right to said corporation to use seven hundred and fifty kilowatts of power. The terms of the contract thus extended shall be subject to the right of the United States to remove the Diesel plant from its present location or to sell or otherwise dispose of it, which action may be taken in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior. In the event of such removal or disposition of the Diesel plant, any remaining balance of the purchase price shall be liquidated and discharged prior to December 31, 1946, in the same manner as though such plant had not been disposed of or removed.

Approved July 21, 1945.

[CHAPTER 433-1ST SESSION]

(H. R. 2690]

AN ACT

To amend the Bonneville Project Act.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 2 (f) of the Act of August 20, 1937 (50 Stat. 731), as amended by the Act of March 6, 1940 (54 Stat. 47), is hereby amended to read as cfollows:

"Subject only to the provisions of this Act, the Administrator is authorized to enter into such contracts, agreements, and arrangements, including the amendment, modification, adjustment, or cancelation thereof and the compromise or final settlement of any claim arising thereunder, and to make such expenditures, upon such terms and conditions and in such manner as he may deem necessary."

SEC. 2. Section 5 (a) of the said Act is hereby amended by inserting before the period at the end of the first sentence the words "and for the disposition of electric energy to Federal agencies".

SEC. 3. Section 6 of the said Act is hereby amended by changing the period at the end of the first sentence to a semicolon and adding the following: "and such rates and charges shall also be applicable to dispositions of electric energy to Federal agencies."

SEC. 4. Section 9 (a) of the said Act is hereby amended by changing the period to a comma and adding: “and in the maintenance of such accounts, appropriate obligations shall be established for annual and sick leave of absence as earned. The Administrator shall, after the close of each fiscal year, obtain an independent commercial-type audit of such accounts. The forms, systems, and procedures prescribed by the Comptroller General for the Administrator's appropriation and fund accounting shall be in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Water Power Act with respect to accounts of electric operations of public utilities and the regulations of the Federal Power Commission pursuant thereto."

SEC. 5. Section 2 (a) of the said Act is hereby amended by striking the language inserted by section 1 of the Act of March 6, 1940 (54 Stat. 47); and section 10 of the said Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(a) The Secretary of the Interior shall appoint, without regard to the civil-service laws, an Assistant Administrator, chief engineer, and general counsel and shall fix the compensation of each in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923, as amended. The Assistant Administrator shall perform the duties and exercise the powers of the Administrator, in the event of the absence or sickness of the Administrator until such absence or sickness shall cease and in the event of a vacancy in the office of Administrator until a successor is appointed. "(b) The Administrator, the Secretary of War, and the Federal Power Commission, respectively, are authorized to appoint, subject