Rep. Boebert’s Rural Jobs and Hydropower Expansion Act Gets Important Hearing

Today, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s Rural Jobs and Hydropower Expansion Act received an important legislative hearing.

Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (CO-03) said, “Hydropower is one of the cheapest, cleanest, and most reliable forms of electricity. Designating Reclamation’s Power Resources Office at its Colorado headquarters as a one-stop shop for hydropower will reduce bureaucracy, lower costs, and help create good-paying jobs in rural America. My bill streamlines the permitting process and authorizes new non-federal hydropower development on Reclamation projects on a much larger scale to include diversion dams and other facilities. Further expanding clean hydro will help lower energy costs for American families and small businesses and create jobs in rural America.”

Craig Horrell, General Manager for the Central Oregon Irrigation District, testifying on behalf of the Family Farm Alliance and the Deschutes Basin Board of Control said, “The bill represents another important step towards facilitating the development of clean, renewable energy on Reclamation projects…H.R. 8263 seeks to address many of the challenges faced by Reclamation-facility water managers by authorizing development of hydropower using all Reclamation facilities… H.R. 8263 extends two important protections in the underlying law to the expanded universe of Reclamation facilities authorized by the bill, including re-affirming hydropower development as secondary to water supply and delivery purposes and ensuring that there will be no financial and operational impacts to existing water users...Thank you again for this opportunity to testify in favor of H.R. 8263. This legislation is very important to the many beneficiaries of the federal projects within the Deschutes Basin Board of Control and throughout the arid West. I respectfully urge the Subcommittee’s favorable consideration of H.R. 8263.”    

David Palumbo, Deputy Commissioner at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation testified, “H.R. 8263 builds on past, successful bipartisan efforts to streamline the permitting process, spurring additional, non-federal hydropower development on Reclamation projects. As written, H.R. 8263 would amend the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 to explicitly expand LOPP authorities across all Reclamation project sites, not just conduits as described in the Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act (P.L. 113-24), and offer further streamlining opportunities for our operating partners and beneficiaries. Reclamation supports the intent of the legislation to streamline the permitting process.”

Background:

Today, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s bill, H.R. 8263, the Rural Jobs and Hydropower Expansion Act, received an important legislative hearing in front of the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries.

The Rural Jobs and Hydropower Expansion Act spurs additional non-federal hydropower development on Reclamation projects and streamlines the permitting process by amending the Reclamation Project Act of 1939. 

The hydropower industry supports nearly 8,000 good-paying jobs in the U.S., mostly in rural America. The Bureau of Reclamation owns and operates 53 hydroelectric plants and is the country’s second-largest hydropower producer. Reclamation’s hydroelectric plants generate 40,000 megawatt-hours of electricity, meeting the demand of approximately 3.5 million homes.

H.R. 8263 formally authorizes the development of hydropower using all Reclamation facilities and encourages irrigation districts, electric utilities and others to develop new hydropower.

Current non-federal hydropower development on Reclamation projects and the associated permits can fall under both the Bureau of Reclamation and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) often requiring approvals from both agencies depending on the project. This fragmented system can lead to significant permitting delays, increased costs and other inefficiencies when seeking to develop new hydroelectric resources. This split in agency jurisdiction has led to nearly 70 non-federal projects being subject to a dual permitting processes and nearly a dozen projects requiring dual permits in the development stages.H.R. 8263 creates a one-stop shop to help solve these permitting issues by giving the Bureau of Reclamation exclusive authority to issue permits for hydropower development within Reclamation projects.

The full text of Rural Jobs and Hydropower Expansion Act is available HERE.