43 U.S.C. § 522
Section 522 · Lease of water power
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Ball v. James (1981)
Most recently applied in In re Kology (September 2013)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whenever a development of power is necessary for the irrigation of lands, under any project undertaken under the said reclamation Act, or an opportunity is afforded for the development of power under any such project, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to lease for a period not exceeding ten years, giving preference to municipal purposes, any surplus power or power privilege, and the moneys derived from such leases shall be covered into the reclamation fund and be placed to the credit of the project from which such power is derived: Provided, That no lease shall be made of such surplus power or power privileges as will impair the efficiency of the irrigation project: Provided further, That the Secretary of the Interior is authorized, in his discretion, to make such a lease in connection with Rio Grande project in Texas and New Mexico for a longer period not exceeding fifty years, with the approval of the water-users’ association or associations under any such project, organized in conformity with the rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior in pursuance of section 498 of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The said reclamation Act, referred to in text, means act June 17, 1902, ch. 1093, 32 Stat. 388, as amended, which is classified generally 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.
Cross References
Sale of electric power and lease of power privileges, see section 485h of this title.