WASHINGTON, DC - As a longtime champion of expanding hydropower in the Northwest and throughout the United States, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) issued the following statement today after releasing a discussion draft on her legislation to update the federal regulation of non-federal hydropower, which gives certainty to those who are working through the regulatory process. Her legislation helps people utilize hydropower in Eastern Washington and across the country.
“Hydropower offers Eastern Washington and the nation significant benefits - including energy security, reliability, environmental protection, and recreation opportunities. I am excited to help unleash American ingenuity to increase hydropower production, lower energy costs for middle-class families, and expand domestic energy production in an affordable and cost-effective manner. Tremendous potential exists for new hydropower development, including facilities at existing infrastructure such as nonpowered dams, new hydropower sites, and emerging technologies that improve the capture of energy along irrigation canals, municipal water supply conduits, and other infrastructure.
“As Co-Chair of the bipartisan Northwest Energy Caucus, I’m working in Congress to address Federal laws that too often get in the way of utilizing this renewable energy resource, to streamline the hydropower licensing and relicensing process to make it more efficient and transparent, and to encourage early environmental protection. As the largest source of renewable energy in the United States, we need to modernize the way we license projects that utilize hydropower, our cleanest, most affordable and reliable energy resource.
“Washington State alone gets approximately 70 percent of its power from hydropower and today, we could double hydropower production in America without building a single new dam. While the Federal Power Act and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 have tried to require better decision making and promote efficiency in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s licensing process, unfortunately, this has not occurred. The discussion draft I am releasing today - the Hydropower Regulatory Modernization Act of 2015 - seeks to start a conversation on how best to correct this problem and expand an energy source for the Pacific Northwest and the rest of the country that will not only lower energy costs, but create thousands of jobs."
In August of 2013, the Congresswoman’s legislation, the Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act, was signed into law. It was one of only 72 bills that passed the president’s desk that year.
Hydropower currently provides nearly 50 percent of all renewable electricity and approximately 100,000 megawatts of electric capacity in the United States, which is enough generating capacity to produce electricity for roughly 75 to 100 million homes. This energy source expands the nation’s ability to rely on many other renewable energy resources by stabilizing intermittent resources such as solar and wind power.
