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sidered an eligible recipient under the Indian Self-De-
1
termination and Education Assistance Act (Public
2
Law 93–638) or was considered an eligible recipient
3
under chapter 67 of title 31, United States Code,
4
prior to the repeal of such chapter.
5
(4) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of
6
Housing and Urban Development, the Secretary of
7
Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior or the Sec-
8
retary of Energy, as appropriate.
9
(5) The term ‘‘rural and remote community’’
10
means a unit of local general government or Native
11
American group which is served by an electric utility
12
that has 10,000 or less customers with an average re-
13
tail cost per kilowatt hour of electricity that is equal
14
to or greater than 150 percent of the average retail
15
cost per kilowatt hour of electricity for all consumers
16
in the United States, as determined by data provided
17
by the Energy Information Administration of the De-
18
partment of Energy.
19
(6) The term ‘‘alternative energy sources’’ in-
20
clude nontraditional means of providing electrical en-
21
ergy, including, but not limited to, wind, solar, bio-
22
mass, municipal solid waste, hydroelectric, geothermal
23
and tidal power.
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(7) The term ‘‘average retail cost per kilowatt
1
hour of electricity’’ has the same meaning as ‘‘average
2
revenue per kilowatt hour of electricity’’ as defined by
3
the Energy Information Administration of the De-
4
partment of Energy.
5
SEC. 944. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
6
The Secretary is authorized to make grants to rural
7
and remote communities to carry out activities in accord-
8
ance with the provisions of this subtitle. For purposes of
9
assistance under section 947, there are authorized to be ap-
10
propriated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2003
11
through 2009.
12
SEC. 945. STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES AND REVIEW.
13
(a) S
TATEMENT
OF
O
BJECTIVES
AND
P
ROJECTED
14
U
SE
.—Prior to the receipt in any fiscal year of a grant
15
under section 947 by any rural and remote community, the
16
grantee shall have prepared and submitted to the Secretary
17
of the agency providing funding a final statement of rural
18
and remote community development objectives and pro-
19
jected use of funds.
20
(b) P
UBLIC
N
OTICE
.—In order to permit public exam-
21
ination and appraisal of such statements, to enhance the
22
public accountability of grantees, and to facilitate coordina-
23
tion of activities with different levels of government, the
24
grantee shall in a timely manner—
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(1) furnish citizens information concerning the
1
amount of funds available for rural and remote com-
2
munity development activities and the range of ac-
3
tivities that may be undertaken;
4
(2) publish a proposed statement in such manner
5
to afford affected citizens an opportunity to examine
6
its content and to submit comments on the proposed
7
statement and on the community development per-
8
formance of the grantee;
9
(3) provide citizens with reasonable access to
10
records regarding the past use of funds received under
11
section 947 by the grantee; and
12
(4) provide citizens with reasonable notice of,
13
and opportunity to comment on, any substantial
14
change proposed to be made in the use of funds re-
15
ceived under section 947 from one eligible activity to
16
another.
17
The final statement shall be made available to the public,
18
and a copy shall be furnished to the appropriate Secretary.
19
Any final statement of activities may be modified or
20
amended from time to time by the grantee in accordance
21
with the same. Procedures required in this paragraph are
22
for the preparation and submission of such statement.
23
(c) P
ERFORMANCE AND
E
VALUATION
R
EPORT
.—Each
24
grantee shall submit to the appropriate Secretary, at a time
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determined by the Secretary, a performance and evaluation
1
report, concerning the use of funds made available under
2
section 947, together with an assessment by the grantee of
3
the relationship of such use to the objectives identified in
4
the grantee’s statement under subsection (a) and to the re-
5
quirements of subsection (b). The grantee’s report shall indi-
6
cate its programmatic accomplishments, the nature of and
7
reasons for any changes in the grantee’s program objectives,
8
and indications of how the grantee would change its pro-
9
grams as a result of its experiences.
10
(d) R
ETENTION OF
I
NCOME
.—
11
(1) I
N GENERAL
.—Any rural and remote com-
12
munity may retain any program income that is real-
13
ized from any grant made by the Secretary under sec-
14
tion 947 if—
15
(A) such income was realized after the ini-
16
tial disbursement of the funds received by such
17
unit of general local government under such sec-
18
tion; and
19
(B) such unit of general local government
20
has agreed that it will utilize the program in-
21
come for eligible rural and remote community
22
development activities in accordance with the
23
provisions of this title.
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(2) E
XCEPTION
.—The Secretary may, by regula-
1
tion, exclude from consideration as program income
2
any amounts determined to be so small that compli-
3
ance with the subsection creates an unreasonable ad-
4
ministrative burden on the rural and remote commu-
5
nity.
6
SEC. 946. ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.
7
(a) A
CTIVITIES
I
NCLUDED
.—Eligible activities as-
8
sisted under this subtitle may include only—
9
(1) weatherization and other cost-effective en-
10
ergy-related repairs of homes and other buildings;
11
(2) the acquisition, construction, repair, recon-
12
struction, or installation of reliable and cost-efficient
13
facilities for the generation, transmission or distribu-
14
tion of electricity, and telecommunications, for con-
15
sumption in a rural and remote community or com-
16
munities;
17
(3) the acquisition, construction, repair, recon-
18
struction, remediation or installation of facilities for
19
the safe storage and efficient management of bulk fuel
20
by rural and remote communities, and facilities for
21
the distribution of such fuel to consumers in a rural
22
or remote community;
23
(4) facilities and training to reduce costs of
24
maintaining and operating generation, distribution
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or transmission systems to a rural and remote com-
1
munity or communities;
2
(5) the institution of professional management
3
and maintenance services for electricity generation,
4
transmission or distribution to a rural and remote
5
community or communities;
6
(6) the investigation of the feasibility of alternate
7
energy sources for a rural and remote community or
8
communities;
9
(7) acquisition, construction, repair, reconstruc-
10
tion, operation, maintenance, or installation of facili-
11
ties for water or wastewater service;
12
(8) the acquisition or disposition of real prop-
13
erty (including air rights, water rights, and other in-
14
terests therein) for eligible rural and remote commu-
15
nity development activities; and
16
(9) activities necessary to develop and implement
17
a comprehensive rural and remote development plan,
18
including payment of reasonable administrative costs
19
related to planning and execution of rural and remote
20
community development activities.
21
(b) A
CTIVITIES
U
NDERTAKEN
T
HROUGH
E
LECTRIC
22
U
TILITIES
.—Eligible activities may be undertaken either
23
directly by the rural and remote community, or by the rural
24
and remote community through local electric utilities.
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SEC. 947. ALLOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.
1
For each fiscal year, of the amount approved in an
2
appropriation Act under section 903 for grants in any year,
3
the Secretary shall distribute to each rural and remote com-
4
munity which has filed a final statement of rural and re-
5
mote community development objectives and projected use
6
of funds under section 945, an amount which shall be allo-
7
cated among the rural and remote communities that filed
8
a final statement of rural and remote community develop-
9
ment objectives and projected use of funds under section 945
10
proportionate to the percentage that the average retail price
11
per kilowatt hour of electricity for all classes of consumers
12
in the rural and remote community exceeds the national
13
average retail price per kilowatt hour for electricity for all
14
consumers in the United States, as determined by data pro-
15
vided by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information
16
Administration. In allocating funds under this section, the
17
Secretary shall give special consideration to those rural and
18
remote communities that increase economies of scale
19
through consolidation of services, affiliation and regional-
20
ization of eligible activities under this title.
21
SEC. 948. RURAL AND REMOTE COMMUNITY ELECTRIFICA-
22
TION GRANTS.
23
Section 313 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936
24
(7 U.S.C. 940c) is amended by adding after subsection (b)
25
the following:
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‘‘(c) R
URAL
AND
R
EMOTE
C
OMMUNITIES
E
LEC
-
1
TRIFICATION
G
RANTS
.—The Secretary of Agriculture, in
2
consultation with the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary
3
of the Interior, may provide grants under this Act for the
4
purpose of increasing energy efficiency, siting or upgrading
5
transmission and distribution lines, or providing or mod-
6
ernizing electric facilities to—
7
‘‘(1) a unit of local government of a State or ter-
8
ritory; or
9
‘‘(2) an Indian tribe or Tribal College or Univer-
10
sity as defined in section 316(b)(3) of the Higher
11
Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b)(3)).
12
‘‘(d) G
RANT
C
RITERIA
.—The Secretary shall make
13
grants based on a determination of cost-effectiveness and
14
most effective use of the funds to achieve the stated purposes
15
of this section.
16
‘‘(e) P
REFERENCE
.—In making grants under this sec-
17
tion, the Secretary shall give a preference to renewable en-
18
ergy facilities.
19
‘‘(f) D
EFINITION
.—For purposes of this section, the
20
term ‘Indian tribe’ means any Indian tribe, band, nation,
21
or other organized group or community, including any
22
Alaska Native village or regional or village corporation as
23
defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native
24
Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), which is
25
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recognized as eligible for the special programs and services
1
provided by the United States to Indians because of their
2
status as Indians.
3
‘‘(e) A
UTHORIZATION
.—For the purpose of carrying
4
out subsection (c), there are authorized to be appropriated
5
to the Secretary $20,000,000 for each of the 7 fiscal years
6
following the date of enactment of this subsection.’’.
7
SEC. 949. ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA-
8
TIONS.
9
There is hereby authorized to be appropriated
10
$5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2003 through 2009 to
11
the Denali Commission established by the Denali Commis-
12
sion Act of 1998 (42 U.S.C. 3121 note) for the purposes
13
of funding the power cost equalization program.
14
15
BLOCK GRANTS.
16
(a) F
INDINGS
; P
URPOSE
.—
17
(1) F
INDINGS
.—Congress finds that—
18
(A) a modern infrastructure, including af-
19
fordable housing, wastewater and water service,
20
and advanced technology capabilities is a nec-
21
essary ingredient of a modern society and devel-
22
opment of a prosperous economy with minimal
23
environmental impacts;
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(B) the Nation’s rural areas face critical so-
1
cial, economic, and environmental problems,
2
arising in significant measure from the growing
3
cost of infrastructure development in rural areas
4
that suffer from low per capita income and high
5
rates of outmigration and are not adequately ad-
6
dressed by existing Federal assistance programs;
7
and
8
(C) the future welfare of the Nation and the
9
well-being of its citizens depend on the establish-
10
ment and maintenance of viable rural areas as
11
social, economic, and political entities.
12
(2) P
URPOSE
.—The purpose of this section is to
13
provide for the development and maintenance of via-
14
ble rural areas through the provision of affordable
15
housing and community development assistance to el-
16
igible units of general local government and eligible
17
Native American groups in rural areas with exces-
18
sively high rates of outmigration and low per capita
19
income levels.
20
(b) D
EFINITIONS
.—In this section:
21
(1) E
LIGIBLE UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERN
-
22
MENT
.—The term ‘‘eligible unit of general local gov-
23
ernment’’ means a unit of general local government
24
that is the governing body of a rural recovery area.
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HR 6 EAS1S/PP
(2) E
LIGIBLE INDIAN TRIBE
.—The term ‘‘eligible
1
Indian tribe’’ means the governing body of an Indian
2
tribe that is located in a rural recovery area.
3
(3) G
RANTEE
.—The term ‘‘grantee’’ means an el-
4
igible unit of general local government or eligible In-
5
dian tribe that receives a grant under this section.
6
(4) N
ATIVE AMERICAN GROUP
.—The term ‘‘Na-
7
tive American group’’ means any Indian tribe, band,
8
group, and nation, including Alaska Indians, Aleuts,
9
and Eskimos, and any Alaskan Native village, of the
10
United States, which is considered an eligible recipi-
11
ent under the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-
12
cation Assistance Act (Public Law 93–638) or was
13
considered an eligible recipient under chapter 67 of
14
title 31, United States Code, prior to the repeal of
15
such chapter.
16
(5) R
URAL RECOVERY AREA
.—The term ‘‘rural
17
recovery area’’ means any geographic area rep-
18
resented by a unit of general local government or a
19
Native American group—
20
(A) the borders of which are not adjacent to
21
a metropolitan area;
22
(B) in which—
23
(i) the population outmigration level
24
equals or exceeds 1 percent over the most re-
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