Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 76.djvu/726

 678

PUBLIC LAW 87-728-OCT. 1, 1962

, ic.. ..i> rr; r

43 USC 371

note.

16 USC 835a, slsc-s!^^'''^' 16 USC 835 c. Secretary of Authority.

43 USC 433.

-J....; ' •

43 USC 451 et sneq

[76 STAT.

SEC. 2. Upon any amendatory repayment contract with a Columbia Basin Irrigation District approved or authorized by this Act becoming effective to bind the United States, that district's share of the operation and maintenance funds expended or obligated for the construction of drainage works including appropriate interest thereon during calendar years 1960, 1961, and 1962 shall be capitalized and charged as a part of the construction cost of the project works assigned directly to irrigation and the Secretary shall either refund to it or gjyg ji credit for (as it may elect) all operation and maintenance payments (including interest paid by it in connection therewith) which it has made for the construction of drainage works during those years, such credit, if so elected by the district, to be applied against future development period and/or construction charges of the district as they become due. SEC. 3. The Columbia Basin project shall be governed by the Federal reclamatibn laws,-being the Act of June 17., 1902 (32 Stat. 388.), and all Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, except that sections 2, 3, 7, and 9 of the Columbia Basin Project Act of March 10, 1943 (57 Stat. 14), as amended, are hereby repealed and section 4 of ^h® Columbia Basin Project Act, as amended, is further amended to read as follows: "SEC. 4. (a) For the purposes of assisting in the permanent settlement of farm families, protecting project land, and facilitating project development, the Secretary is authorized to administer public lands of the United States in the project area and lands acquired under this section; to sell, exchange, or lease such lands; to dedicate portions of such lands for public purposes in keeping with sound project development; to acquire in the name of the United States, at prices satisfactory to him, such lands or interests in lands, within or adjacent to the project area, as he deems appropriate for the protection, development, or improvement of the project; and to accept donations of real and personal property for the purposes of this Act. Any moneys realized on account of donations for purposes of this Act shall be covered into the Treasury as trust funds. " (b) Contracts, exchanges, and leases made under this section shall be on terms that, in the Secretary's judgment, are in keeping with sound project development. In addition, land sale and exchange contracts shall be on a basis that, in the Secretary's judgment, provides for the return, in a reasonable period of years, of not less than the appraised value of the land and improvements thereon. Qualification of applicants for the purchase of land for irrigation farming shall be prescribed as provided in subsection (c) of section 4 of the Act of December 5, 1924 (43 Stat. 702), notwithstanding any other provisions of law. No farm unit shall be sold to, and no contract to sell a. farm unit shall be entered into with, any person, corporation, or joint-stock association which has theretofore purchased or entered into a contract to purchase a farm unit from the United States on the Columbia Basin project. The foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall apply only to the sale of farm units which are suitable for settlement purposes. F a r m units which, in the opinion of the Secretary, are not suitable for settlement purposes may be sold with a preference to resident project landowners as supplemental units, subject to the applicable irrigable acreage limitations on the delivery of water, but the purchasers thereof shall not be entitled to benefits of the Act of August 13, 1953 (67 Stat. 666) with respect.thereto."

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