All receipts from the project shall be paid into the Colorado River Dam Fund and shall be available, without further appropriation, for:

(a) Defraying operating expenses

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Defraying the costs of operation (including purchase of supplemental energy to meet temporary deficiencies in firm energy which the Secretary of Energy is obligated by contract to supply), maintenance and replacements of, and emergency expenditures for, all facilities of the project, within such separate limitations as may be included in annual appropriations Acts;

(b) Repayment of cost of construction

Repayment to the Treasury, with interest (after making provision for the payments and transfers provided in subdivisions (c) and (d) hereof), of advances to the Colorado River Dam Fund for the construction of the project (excluding the amount allocated to flood control by section 2(b) of the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617a(b)]), and any readvances made to said fund under section 618d of this title; and

(c) Commutation payments to Arizona and Nevada

Payment subject to the provisions of section 618b of this title, in commutation of the payments now provided for the States of Arizona and Nevada in section 4(b) of the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617c(b)] to each of said States of the sum of $300,000 for each year of operation, beginning with the year of operation ending May 31, 1938, and continuing annually thereafter until and including the year of operation ending May 31, 1987, and such payments for any year of operation which shall have expired at the time when this subdivision shall become effective shall be due immediately, and be paid, without interest, as expeditiously as administration of this subchapter will permit, and each such payment for subsequent years of operation shall be made on or before July 31, following the close of the year of operation for which it is made. All such payments shall be made from revenues received on and after July 19, 1940 in the Colorado River Dam Fund.

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subsection, in the event that there are levied and collected by or under authority of Arizona or Nevada or by any lawful taxing political subdivision thereof, taxes upon—

(i) the project as herein defined;

(ii) the electrical energy generated at Hoover Dam by means of facilities, machinery, or equipment both owned and operated by the United States, or owned by the United States and operated under contract with the United States;

(iii) the privilege of generating or transforming such electrical energy or of use of such facilities, machinery, or equipment or of falling water for such generation or transforming; or

(iv) the transmission or control of such electrical energy so generated or transformed (as distinguished from the transmission lines and other physical properties used for such transmission or control) or the use of such transmission lines or other physical properties for such transmission or control,

payments made hereunder to the State by or under the authority of which such taxes are collected shall be reduced by an amount equivalent to such taxes. Nothing herein shall in anywise impair the right of either the State of Arizona or the State of Nevada, or any lawful taxing political subdivision of either of them, to collect non-discriminatory taxes upon that portion of the transmission lines and all other physical properties, situated within such State and such political subdivision, respectively, and belonging to any of the lessees and/or allottees under the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] and/or under this subchapter, and nothing herein shall exempt or be construed so as to exempt any such property from nondiscriminatory taxation, all in the manner provided by the constitution and laws of such State. Sums, if any, received by each State under the provisions of the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.] shall be deducted from the first payment or payments to said State authorized by this subchapter. Payments under this subsection shall be deemed contractual obligations of the United States, subject to the provisions of section 618b of this title.

(d) Transfer of sums to Colorado River Development Fund; expenditure of fund

Transfer, subject to the provisions of section 618b of this title, from the Colorado River Dam Fund to a special fund in the Treasury, established and designated the “Colorado River Development Fund”, of the sum of $500,000 for the year of operation ending May 31, 1938, and the like sum of $500,000 for each year of operation thereafter, until and including the year of operation ending May 31, 1987. The transfer of the said sum of $500,000 for each year of operation shall be made on or before July 31 next following the close of the year of operation for which it is made: Provided, That any such transfer for any year of operation which shall have ended at the time this subsection shall become effective, shall be made, without interest, from revenues received in the Colorado River Dam Fund, as expeditiously as administration of this subchapter will permit, and without readvances from the general funds of the Treasury. Receipts of the Colorado River Development Fund for the years of operation ending in 1938, 1939, and 1940 (or in the event of reduced receipts during any of said years, due to adjustments under section 618b of this title, then the first receipts of said fund up to $1,500,000), are authorized to be appropriated only for the continuation and extension, under the direction of the Secretary, of studies and investigations by the Bureau of Reclamation for the formulation of a comprehensive plan for the utilization of waters of the Colorado River system for irrigation, electrical power, and other purposes, in the States of the upper division and the States of the lower division, including studies of quantity and quality of water and all other relevant factors. The next such receipts up to and including the receipts for the year of operation ending in 1955 are authorized to be appropriated only for the investigation and construction of projects for such utilization in and equitably distributed among the four States of the upper division: Provided, however, That in view of distributions heretofore made, and in order to expedite the development and utilization of water projects within all of the States of the upper division, the distribution of such funds for use in the fiscal years 1949 to 1955, shall be on a basis which is as nearly equal as practicable. Such receipts for the years of operation ending in 1956 to 1987, inclusive, are authorized to be appropriated for the investigation and construction of projects for such utilization in and equitably distributed among the States of the upper division and the States of the lower division. The terms “Colorado River system”, “States of the upper division”, and “States of the lower division” as so used shall have the respective meanings defined in the Colorado River compact mentioned in the Project Act [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.]. Such projects shall be only such as are found by the Secretary to be physically feasible, economically justified, and consistent with such formulation of a comprehensive plan. Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed so as to prevent the authorization and construction of any such projects prior to the completion of said plan of comprehensive development; nor shall this subchapter be construed as affecting the right of any State to proceed independently of this subchapter or its provisions with the investigation or construction of any project or projects. Transfers under this subsection shall be deemed contractual obligations of the United States, subject to the provisions of section 618b of this title.

(e) Transfer to Lower Colorado River Basin Development Fund

Transfer to the Lower Colorado River Basin Development Fund established by title IV of the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968, as amended and supplemented [43 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.], of the revenues referred to in section 618(e) of this title.