Washington, D.C. – Malcolm Woolf, president and CEO of the National Hydropower Association, released this statement reacting to the failure of the GOP House Ways and Means tax reconciliation package to include vital provisions related to hydropower. This occurred despite President Trump highlighting hydropower as a key energy resource in three executive orders and praising this domestic energy source as ‘fantastic.’ The Ways and Means tax package is part of the congressional reconciliation process to pass a sweeping federal budget that will guide America’s domestic agenda:
“Achieving energy dominance in an era of rising electricity demand will require an ‘all of the above’ strategy.
“Unfortunately, the Reconciliation Tax bill released by the House Ways and Means Committee fails to consider the needs of domestic baseload generation with long construction schedules. In addition, the package failed to include a provision to help maintain and enhance the existing hydropower fleet. These omissions come as almost 40% of the nation’s non-federal hydropower fleet faces license expiration within the next decade.
“NHA will work with Congress to clarify eligibility for long lead-time projects based on when they commence construction, and to include a bicameral, bipartisan proposal to maintain and preserve the existing hydropower fleet that plays an essential role in promoting a reliable, secure, and affordable electricity grid.”
