Bonneville Unit Clean Hydropower Facilitation Act

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the bipartisan support that we've had in the passage of this legislation and urge its support.

H.R. 254 is a win for Federal taxpayers, the environment, and energy users. This bill allows for the development of 50 megawatts of clean, renewable hydropower on the Diamond Fork System in Utah and will generate $600,000 per year for the Federal Government. In Utah, we are one of the fastest-growing areas in the Nation and we need this power.

Under current law, hydropower will not be developed on the Diamond Fork System due to a requirement that energy developers pay $106 million to recover sunk costs that were incurred several years ago.

This $106 million payment requirement renders the hydropower project economically unfeasible. According to the Congressional Budget Office doing an assessment on H.R. 254:

Among the reasons that CBO expects the site will probably

not be developed over the next 10 years under current law is

a requirement that project sponsors pay the Treasury for a

portion of the Federal Government's previous investments in

the water project.

H.R. 254 would waive the repayment requirement, making the project economically feasible. In addition, the developer would pay the Federal Government a $600,000 per year fee, unrelated to the sunk cost, once the project is completed.

Massive amounts of energy are generated in the Diamond Fork unit as water flows downhill from Strawberry Reservoir to the Utah and Salt Lake Valleys. Energy dissipators are scattered throughout the pipeline to slow the flow and disperse the energy. Under H.R. 254, the operators would be able to replace those dissipators with turbines, allowing the currently wasted energy to be converted into electricity.

With or without this bill, the Federal Government will not recover the $106 million under any realistic scenario, and developers will not create 50 megawatts of renewable hydropower unless the sunk cost repayment requirement is waived. Additionally, the Federal Government will receive $600,000 per year once the project is completed if the repayment requirement is waived.

This has had a number of hearings within the Natural Resources Committee. We appreciate the bipartisan support and spirit of this moving forward. I would urge passage by my colleagues. We need the energy. This is the best, clean way we can do it.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 254) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to facilitate the development of hydroelectric power on the Diamond Fork System of the Central Utah Project.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

H.R. 254, introduced by Congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah, facilitates the development of 50 megawatts of clean and renewable hydroelectric power at existing Interior Department facilities in the Diamond Fork System in Utah. That is enough electricity to power over 50,000 homes.

The bill removes an administrative impediment to make this happen. As part of the Interior Department's current rules, the developer must first pay $106 million even before investing in the capital cost to install hydropower generators. As Water and Power Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock said, this requirement is akin to a family renting out a room but first requiring the renter to pay off their mortgage. The family is then shocked that nobody wants to rent from them and the family is not further along in paying off its mortgage and has denied itself rental income. The Congressional Budget Office concurred by stating:

The Federal Government is unlikely, under current law, to

develop the hydropower resources of the Diamond Fork project

for at least the next 10 years.

Therefore, this bill removes the requirement of paying for the sunk cost and encourages non-Federal entities to pursue hydropower development at Diamond Fork. As a result, this legislation will generate $4 million in revenue over a 10-year period. The House has passed this legislation twice in as many Congresses, and I urge my colleagues to support it again.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Chaffetz).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I concur with the gentleman from New Jersey in that this bill should pass, and I appreciate the bipartisan support.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. HOLT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

H.R. 254, introduced by my friend Mr. Chaffetz of Utah, would allow for the production of hydropower at existing facilities by deferring the debt associated with hydropower development on the Diamond Fork System, as you have heard.

This would facilitate the development of 50 megawatts of clean hydroelectric power while generating revenue for the government for the use of its water facilities. This is what we should want to see.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support its passage, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Does the gentleman from Virginia have further speakers?

With that, I will repeat my advice to my colleagues that we support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, April 9th, 2013, I missed rollcall vote numbers 90, 91, and 92 for unavoidable reasons.

Had I been present, I would have voted as follows:

Rollcall no. 90: ``yea'' (On motion to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 254, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to facilitate the development of hydroelectric power on the Diamon Fork System of the Central Utah Project.)

Rollcall no. 91: ``nay'' (On motion to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 1033, to authorize the acquisition and protection of nationally significant battlefields and associated sites of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 under the American Battlefield Protection Program.)

Rollcall no. 92: ``yea'' (On approving the Journal.)

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and so I missed rollcall vote No. 90 ``to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to facilitate the development of hydroelectric power on the Diamond Fork System of the Central Utah Project'' (H.R. 254). Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes''.