Promoting Hydropower Development at Existing Nonpowered Dams Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2872) to amend the Federal Power Act to promote hydropower development at existing nonpowered dams, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material in the Record on the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill, H.R. 2872, was introduced by Energy and Commerce Committee member Larry Bucshon in June of this year. The legislation went through regular order and was reported by the full committee with a bipartisan amendment by a voice vote.

This bill promotes hydropower by development at existing nonpowered dams by establishing an expedited licensing process that will result in a final decision on an application in 2 years or less. We know hydropower is a clean, renewable, and reliable source of energy that provides low-cost electricity to millions of Americans.

As we have learned through hearings at the Energy and Commerce Committee, the current regulatory process places new hydropower projects at existing nonpowered dams at a significant disadvantage. The current process takes way too long and it creates too much uncertainty, burdening consumers with additional unnecessary costs and preventing jobs and economic opportunities.

This bill, H.R. 2872, makes important changes to the process to enable FERC to issue a decision in 2 years or less. The legislation also requires that FERC, as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the

Interior, to develop a list of existing nonpowered Federal dams that have the greatest potential for non-Federal hydropower development.

This is a good bipartisan bill. I thank Dr. Bucshon for his hard work on this important issue and for working with our colleagues across the aisle to bring the bill to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of

Representatives,

Washington, DC, December 12, 2017.

Hon. Greg Walden,

Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Walden: I write concerning H.R. 2872, the

Promoting Hydropower Development at Existing Nonpowered Dams

Act. This legislation includes matters that fall within the

Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure.

I recognize and appreciate your desire to bring this

legislation before the House of Representatives in an

expeditious manner, and accordingly, the Committee on

Transportation and Infrastructure will forego action on the

bill. However, this is conditional on our mutual

understanding that foregoing consideration of the bill does

not prejudice the Committee with respect to the appointment

of conferees or to any future jurisdictional claim over the

subject matters contained in the bill or similar legislation

that fall within the Committee's Rule X jurisdiction. Lastly,

should a conference on the bill be necessary, I request your

support for the appointment of conferees from the Committee

on Transportation and Infrastructure during any House-Senate

conference convened on this or related legislation.

I would ask that a copy of this letter and your response

acknowledging our jurisdictional interest be included in the

Congressional Record during consideration of the measure on

the House floor, to memorialize our understanding.

I look forward to working with the Committee on Energy and

Commerce as the bill moves through the legislative process.

Sincerely,

Bill Shuster,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say that I appreciate the gentleman's willingness to work on these bills together. I really appreciate his hard work.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon), the sponsor of this legislation, in support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden), the chairman of the full committee.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, have no further speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I again commend members on both sides of the aisle for getting this bill to the floor, and the staff. I appreciate the leadership for scheduling this, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their great work on this: Mr. Rush from Illinois and, of course, the former chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, my friend, Mr. Upton, and our other committee members who put so much into these important pieces of legislation.

To date, the committee has worked in a bipartisan manner to examine and advance thoughtful solutions that prioritize consumers, support American businesses and jobs, and protect the environment. These commonsense, bipartisan bills we are considering today continue this very strong and bipartisan effort.

As many of you have heard me discuss before, hydropower plays an integral role in electricity generation across our great country as well as in my home State of Oregon. In fact, nearly 43 percent of electricity in Oregon comes from this dependable base load power resource, and it has supported jobs along the Columbia River and throughout the State.

Two of the three bills under consideration today build upon the committee's work promoting this emissions-free energy resource. In fact, the House of Representatives has already passed 10 Energy and Commerce Committee bills that promote hydropower and modernize the licensing process so we can get these projects to market faster.

H.R. 2872, the Promoting Hydropower Development at Existing Nonpowered Dams Act, is authored by my good friend from Indiana and committee member, Larry Bucshon. Dr. Bucshon's legislation would promote hydropower development by expediting the licensing process for these types of facilities: dams that could have hydropower put on them, but don't right now. We want to take advantage of that power.

H.R. 2872 also requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Department of the Interior to develop a list of existing nonpowered Federal dam facilities across the country that have the greatest potential for non-Federal hydropower development.

What we want to know is: Where are these dams already in existence so we can put a generator on, in effect, and generate electricity and create electricity without emission?

The second hydropower bill under consideration was authored by our distinguished Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee vice chairman, Morgan Griffith, from Virginia. Now, Mr. Griffith's bill, H.R. 2880, the Promoting Closed-Loop Pumped Storage Hydropower Act, unanimously passed the committee last week. This promotes what is called closed- loop pumped storage hydropower development by streamlining the licensing for such facilities.

Fundamentally, what happens is you generate power; and, when there is surplus power, it pumps, puts water on top of a reservoir, and then when you need to generate energy at peak times, the water comes back down through a pipe, through another generator, back into a lower elevation reservoir, and you repeat the cycle. It just really acts like a battery in some respects and produces, again, emissions, free hydropower.

The third bill under consideration today was authored by our committee member Representative Susan Brooks from Indiana, H.R. 1733. Now, this directs the Secretary of Energy to update the Federal strategy for recycling used lubricating oil.

Recycling used lubricating oil provides environmental benefits, reduces energy consumption, which is important, and produces high- quality products for consumers across our country.

Mr. Speaker, cumulatively, these bills underscore the Energy and Commerce Committee's willingness to reach across the aisle and work together in a bipartisan way to find commonsense solutions that make a difference for people across the country that improve the environment and generate emissions-free energy.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues and the staff on both sides of the committee for their great work in this case.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support these measures and get them to the President's desk.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2872, the Promoting Hydropower Development at Existing Nonpowered Dams Act.

Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague from the Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. Bucshon from Indiana, for sponsoring this bipartisan piece of legislation. I would also like to acknowledge the committee staffs from both the majority and minority sides for working together in good faith to develop a bill that resolved the differences between the two sides as we proceeded through the committee process in order to get the bill onto the floor here today.

Mr. Speaker, I am a huge proponent of hydropower as a safe, reliable, carbon-free way of providing energy to millions of Americans, especially when the licensing process is conducted in a reasonable and transparent manner that takes into account environmental safeguards as well as the rights and interests of the affected local communities.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that H.R. 2872 encompasses all of these objections. H.R. 2872 would allow FERC, in consultation with Federal and State resource agencies, as well as Native American Tribes, to establish an expedited licensing process for installing hydropower generation at existing dams that don't produce electricity by exempting these projects from regulation under the Federal Power Act.

Mr. Speaker, under this bill, FERC would be required to provide a final decision on license applications within 2 years of receiving a completed application for new generation projects at nonpowered dams that are completely constructed as of the date of the bill's enactment and which aren't generating electricity through hydropower. Eligible projects, Mr. Speaker, must not result in any material change to the storage, release, or flow operations of the dam.

H.R. 2872 would also require FERC to establish an interagency task force, consisting of relevant Federal and State agencies, as well as Native American Tribes, that would all coordinate the authorizations necessary to license the facility.

FERC would also be required to gauge the safety of non-Federal dams under consideration and to require the facility to meet the Commission's dam safety requirements throughout the term of the license.

Additionally, Mr. Speaker, FERC would work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as the Interior and Agriculture Departments, to develop a list of existing nonpowered federally owned dams with the greatest potential for non-Federal hydropower development.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2872 would exempt hydropower applicants from having to pay annual fees associated with the licenses until construction actually commences on the project.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2872 represents a major step in the right direction for increasing our ability to issue hydropower permits in a fair, transparent, and expedited way, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this notable bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Loebsack), an outstanding member of the subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Whether it is turning on the light above the kitchen table in a home or powering heavy machinery in a factory, the American people expect there to be reliable and affordable energy to power their lives and our economy. That is why it is important that we take advantage of all forms of American-made energy.

According to Department of Energy estimates, there are more than 50,000 suitable nonpowered dams across the country that collectively have the technical potential to add 12 gigawatts of hydropower capacity. To put that in context, that is the same potential capacity as two dozen coal-fired power plants.

Back home in Indiana, there are six nonpowered dams located in the Eighth District that could benefit from an expedited permitting process that promotes hydropower generation and provides quality Hoosier jobs.

Unfortunately, unnecessary government red tape is preventing us from taking advantage of clean, renewable energy from hydropower at existing nonpowered dams. The current regulatory process simply takes too long, taking up to a decade to approve a project, which stifles the investment needed to bring additional capacity at existing dams online.

We have the opportunity to change this with H.R. 2872, the Promoting Hydropower Development at Existing Nonpowered Dams Act. Specifically, this legislation cuts through the red tape and instructs FERC to create an expedited permitting process that will result in a final decision on an application in just 2 years or less.

Streamlining the permitting process for qualifying nonpowered dam projects represents an important first step in modernizing our existing infrastructure. Additionally, it will incentivize investments in clean hydropower development, allowing us to take advantage of an American source of energy.

I applaud both sides of the aisle for their work to reach a bipartisan solution, and I ask my colleagues to support H.R. 2872.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2872, the Promoting Hydropower Development at Existing Nonpowered Dams Act.

Iowa has become a national leader in renewable energy. Currently, my State provides over 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, including over 37 percent from wind power alone. But there is a lot of potential.

In 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy found that there is over 12,000 megawatts of untapped hydropower potential in the Nation's existing dams. That is enough electricity to power 4 million homes. That same report ranked Iowa 10th in available energy capacity in the United States if these nonpowered dams were converted, with the potential to generate 427 megawatts.

Renewable energy development like hydropower has created thousands of good-paying jobs across Iowa. My district is the home of three hydroelectric generation plants and will soon be the home of the second largest hydro plant in the State, the Red Rock Hydroelectric Project. Upon completion, Red Rock will produce upwards of 36 megawatts of energy. That is enough electricity to power the nearby city of Pella, and it has led to hundreds of jobs across the State of Iowa.

However, projects like Red Rock and others have been slowed by a cumbersome licensing process as has been mentioned by folks on both sides of the aisle here. Congress must work to streamline the hydropower licensing processes so that more clean, renewable energy and domestic energy can be brought onto the grid for the American consumer, while also ensuring that these projects do not harm the environment. This is why I am proud to have worked with Mr. Bucshon and my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee to bring this commonsense, job-creating, bipartisan legislation to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.