§ 16421 — Third-party Finance

(a) The Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Western Area Power Administration (hereinafter in this section referred to as “WAPA”), or through the Administrator of the Southwestern Power Administration (hereinafter in this section referred to as “SWPA”), or both, may design, develop, construct, operate, maintain, or own, or participate with other entities in designing, developing, constructing, operating, maintaining, or owning, an electric power transmission facility and related facilities (“Project”) needed to upgrade existing transmission facilities owned by SWPA or WAPA if the Secretary, in consultation with the applicable Administrator, determines that the proposed Project— (A) is located in a national interest electric transmission corridor designated under section 216(a) of the Federal Power Act [16 U.S.C. 824p(a)] and will reduce congestion of electric transmission in interstate commerce; or (B) is necessary to accommodate an actual or projected increase in demand for electric transmission capacity; (2) is consistent with— (A) transmission needs identified, in a transmission expansion plan or otherwise, by the appropriate Transmission Organization (as defined in the Federal Power Act [16 U.S.C. 791a et seq.]), if any, or approved regional reliability organization; and (B) efficient and reliable operation of the transmission grid; and (3) would be operated in conformance with prudent utility practice. (b) The Secretary, acting through WAPA or SWPA, or both, may design, develop, construct, operate, maintain, or own, or participate with other entities in designing, developing, constructing, operating, maintaining, or owning, a new electric power transmission facility and related facilities (“Project”) located within any State in which WAPA or SWPA operates if the Secretary, in consultation with the applicable Administrator, determines that the proposed Project— (A) is located in an area designated under section 216(a) of the Federal Power Act [16 U.S.C. 824p(a)] and will reduce congestion of electric transmission in interstate commerce; or (B) is necessary to accommodate an actual or projected increase in demand for electric transmission capacity; (2) is consistent with— (A) transmission needs identified, in a transmission expansion plan or otherwise, by the appropriate Transmission Organization (as defined in the Federal Power Act [16 U.S.C. 791a et seq.]) if any, or approved regional reliability organization; and (B) efficient and reliable operation of the transmission grid; (3) will be operated in conformance with prudent utility practice; (4) will be operated by, or in conformance with the rules of, the appropriate (A) Transmission Organization, if any, or (B) if such an organization does not exist, regional reliability organization; and (5) will not duplicate the functions of existing transmission facilities or proposed facilities which are the subject of ongoing or approved siting and related permitting proceedings. (1) In carrying out a Project under subsection (a) or (b), the Secretary may accept and use funds contributed by another entity for the purpose of carrying out the Project. (2) The contributed funds shall be available for expenditure for the purpose of carrying out the Project— (A) without fiscal year limitation; and (B) as if the funds had been appropriated specifically for that Project. (3) In carrying out a Project under subsection (a) or (b), any costs of the Project not paid for by contributions from another entity shall be collected through rates charged to customers using the new transmission capability provided by the Project and allocated equitably among these project beneficiaries using the new transmission capability. (d) Nothing in this section affects any requirement of— (1) any Federal environmental law, including the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); (2) any Federal or State law relating to the siting of energy facilities; or (3) any existing authorizing statutes. (e) Nothing in this section shall constrain or restrict an Administrator in the utilization of other authority delegated to the Administrator of WAPA or SWPA. (f) (a) or (b) shall be based on findings by the Secretary using the best available data. (g) The Secretary shall not accept and use more than $100,000,000 under subsection (c)(1) for the period encompassing fiscal years 2006 through 2015.