Washington, D.C. – The National Hydropower Association, the nation’s leading trade association for the water power industry, applauded Representative Cliff Bentz (OR-02) for introducing a much-needed bill that helps streamline hydropower relicensing.
The Hydropower Licensing Affordability Act (H.R. 9337) helps address the outdated and untenable hydropower licensing process by ensuring that mandatory conditions for a facility’s license are directly related to hydropower production. Currently, many stakeholders in the licensing process pair permits to “wish list” items that are not directly related to the electricity the facilities produce. This slows down hydropower licensing with unrelated requirements, threatens the viability of many projects and the reliable energy they provide, and passes additional costs to consumers in their monthly power bills.
“It’s long past time we pair the permit to the project,” said NHA’s President and CEO, Malcolm Woolf. “That’s why the ‘Hydropower License Affordability Act’ is essential. For too long, hydropower producers have been forced to foot the bill for wish-list items that have nothing to do with the power they provide. This includes actual requests like:
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Building miles of road not connected to an actual project
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Building fish passage for 2 million fish when less than 20,000 were present
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Constructing a 300-gallon water trough for livestock, which has no relationship to the hydropower facility
“These common sense, targeted reforms will make a big difference,” added Woolf. “With rising energy demand and 16,000 MWs of hydropower pending license renewal in the next decade, we can’t afford to keep the status quo. I urge Congress to pass this bill promptly.”
