Public Law 90–18

That the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to participate in the development of technology for a large-scale desalting plant by providing financial, technical, or other assistance to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California for the design, development, construction, and operation of a water treatment and desalting plant to be constructed as a part of a dual-purpose electrical power generation and desalting project in the southern California area.

Sec. 2.

Before providing any assistance as authorized by this Act, the Secretary shall first determine that the value of the anticipated technical knowledge and experience in desalting to be derived from his participation in the construction and operation of this facility will be not less than the amount of such assistance.

Sec. 3.

In order to provide the assistance authorized by this Act, the Secretary may, without regard to the provisions of Revised Statutes 3648, enter into a contract with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California containing such terms and conditions as he deems appropriate and covering such periods of time as he may consider necessary but under which the liability of the United States shall be contingent upon appropriations being available therefor. No such contract, however, shall be executed by the Secretary until 45 calendar days after it has been transmitted to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, which 45 days shall not include days on which either the Senate or the House of Representatives is not in session because of an adjournment for more than three days to a day certain or an adjournment sine die. The contract shall provide that any financial assistance by the United States under this Act toward the construction of the Bolsa Island or the facilities thereon shall be contingent upon the parties concerned obtaining, prior to the start of construction of the Bolsa Island, a construction permit from the United States Atomic Energy Commission for the construction of the nuclear reactors on the said island. The contract shall also provide that the United States, its officers and employees shall have a permanent right to access to said island and the desalting project located thereon for all official purposes.

Sec. 4.

The Secretary of the Interior shall report to the President

Report to Congress.

of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives on or before March 1 of each year on his operations under this Act and on the results obtained by the United States from participation in the desalting and electrical power generation project pursuant to this Act.

Sec. 5.

To carry out the purposes of this Act, there are authorized

Appropriation.

to be appropriated not to exceed $57,200,000, which shall remain available until expended.