Mr. President, I rise today to introduce two pieces of legislation aimed at increasing the production of our hardest working renewable resource, one that often gets overlooked in the clean energy…
Mr. President, I rise today to introduce two pieces of legislation aimed at increasing the production of our hardest working renewable resource, one that often gets overlooked in the clean energy debate--hydropower. The first bill I would like to
introduce today is the Hydropower Improvement Act of 2010, co-sponsored by my colleagues Senators Murray, Cantwell, and Crapo, true hydropower advocates. The Hydropower Improvement Act of 2010 seeks to substantially increase the capacity and generation of our clean, renewable hydropower resources that will improve environmental quality and support hundreds of thousands of green energy jobs.
There is no question that hydropower is, and must continue to be, part of our energy solution. It is the largest source of renewable electricity in the United States. The 96,000 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity we now have today provide about 7 percent of the Nation's electricity needs. Hydroelectric generation is carbon-free baseload power that allows us to avoid 225 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year. Hydropower is clean efficient, and inexpensive. Yet, despite its tremendous benefits, I am constantly amazed at how some undervalue this important resource.
Perhaps it is because conventional wisdom dismisses our Nation's hydropower capacity as tapped out. That is simply not the case. If anything, hydropower is really an under-developed resource--something we certainly understand in my home state of Alaska where hydro already supplies 24 percent of the state's electricity needs and over 200 promising sites for further hydropower development have been identified. There is great potential for additional hydropower development in every State, not just Alaska.
According to the Obama administration, conventional hydropower facilities have the capacity to generate an additional 75,000 megawatts of power--a staggering amount of clean, inexpensive power. Now that doesn't seem possible until you realize that only 3 percent of the country's 80,000 existing dams are even electrified. Significant amounts of new capacity--anywhere between 20,000 and 60,000 megawatts-- can be derived from simple efficiency improvements or capacity additions at existing facilities.
Additional hydropower can be captured in existing man-made conduits and hydroelectric pumped storage projects can help reliably integrate other renewable resources that are intermittent, such as wind, onto our grid.
The Hydropower Improvement Act of 2010 seeks to increase substantially our nation's hydropower capacity in an effort to expand renewable power generation and create much needed American jobs. The legislation establishes a competitive grants program to support further hydropower development and directs the Energy Department to produce and implement a plan for the research, development and demonstration of increased hydropower capacity. The bill provides the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with additional authority to extend preliminary permit terms; to work with Federal resource agencies to streamline the review process for conduit hydropower projects; and to conduct a Notice of Inquiry into a possible two-year licensing process for certain minimal impact projects. The Act also calls for studies on pumped storage sites and the potential for nonfederal development at Bureau of Reclamation facilities, and authorizes training for hydroelectric power technology at community colleges.
It is my hope that as the Senate turns to energy legislation, we can finally recognize the important contribution the renewable resource of hydropower makes, and will continue to make, to our clean energy goals. This legislation is supported by the National Hydropower Association, the American Public Power Association, the Family Farm Alliance, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the Edison Electric Institute, and the National Water Resources Association. I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting the Hydropower Improvement Act of 2010 to promote the further development of our most cost-effective, clean energy option while creating hundreds of thousands of new green jobs.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
Mr. President, today I introduce the Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2010. This is legislation to extend certain benefits and income tax provisions to energy generated by hydropower resources.
We have an incredible amount of hydropower potential in my home State of Alaska. To date, we have almost 50 hydropower projects--in a range of sizes from the 126-megawatt Bradley Lake project to the 7-kilowatt Walsh Creek project--that produce about 24 percent of the State's electricity needs. Alaska is proof that the hydropower resource is not tapped out--not even close. Currently, there are 32 additional hydropower projects, just in Southeast, that are either under construction or on the drawing boards. Statewide there are another 200 areas that have been identified as promising sites for lake taps, run of river, pumped storage and even new hydroelectric reservoirs. With the proper financing, we could keep a dozen hydro construction companies fully employed in the State for a decade or even longer. That is just in Alaska. There are tremendous opportunities in each and every State to further develop this clean energy alternative.
Hydropower, by definition, is a renewable resource. It produces no carbon emissions and through rainfall and melting snowpacks it is able to be replenished. Yet there are some who would deny this important classification to the hydropower resource. The Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2010 directs that the generation of hydroelectric power be treated as a ``renewable'' resource for purposes of any Federal program or standard. This reclassification of hydroelectric generation should help to incent the further production of this important and often undervalued resource.
Next, the bill provides parity treatment for hydropower resources in the Production Tax Credit, PTC. Currently, companies that generate wind, solar, geothermal, and ``closed-loop'' biomass systems are eligible for the PTC which provides a 2.1 cent per kilowatt-hour, kWh, benefit for the first 10 years of a renewable energy facility's operation. Other technologies, such as incremental hydropower, certain generation at non-power facilities, and wave and tidal receive a lesser value tax credit of 1.0 cent per kWh. The Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2010 eliminates the distinction between the two categories so that all qualified hydropower resources receive the full PTC credit. The bill further expands upon the types of hydropower resources that can qualify for the PTC, allowing new hydro generation, small hydropower under 50 megawatts, lake taps, and pumped storage to qualify as well.
The Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2010 also carries this expanded qualification of hydropower to the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds, CREBS, program. Because non-profits like rural electric cooperatives and public power providers are not eligible for the PTC due to their tax-exempt status, CREBS was created to encourage these entities to undertake renewable energy development as well. This program has been wildly popular and has been oversubscribed since its inception. There are endless possibilities for increased hydropower production by electric cooperatives and public power providers and they should be given the proper financial incentive to do so.
I ask my colleagues to support this hydropower tax legislation. The further development of this untapped renewable resource will help us meet our clean energy goals through the generation of carbon-free, baseload power. At a time of record unemployment, the addition of hydropower capacity throughout the Nation will lead to hundreds of thousands of good paying, domestic jobs.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
