LPPC Releases New Hydro-Relicensing Fact Sheet in Support of the Hydropower Licensing Affordability Act
LPPC recently endorsed H.R. 9337/S. 5048 (link) which requires that mandatory conditions imposed under Sections 18 and 4(e) of the Federal Power Act are directly tied to a project’s direct adverse effects, ensuring that conditions are targeted, evidence-based, and focused on mitigating project-specific effects rather than addressing broader policy objectives.
Why this bill matters to LPPC member utilities:
More than half of LPPC member utilities own, operate, or contract for over 17 gigawatts of hydropower capacity, equivalent to powering approximately 13 million American homes. This represents approximately one-quarter of the non-federally owned hydropower capacity in the U.S.
Our members need hydropower relicensing reform to reduce the time and cost necessary to relicense facilities that already exist. In many cases, these proceedings are cumulatively longer and more costly than the initial construction of the facilities.
We’ve been involved in a hydropower relicensing project for several years now through FERC, and the interesting part about this for our utility is that we were created by the Oklahoma state legislature in 1935, they started construction of our (Pensacola) dam in 1938 and it was finished in 1940. We can’t relicense that facility in the same period of time and it costs nearly as much in real dollars to relicense it as it did to build it.” - Dan Sullivan, President & CEO, Grand River Dam Authority
LPPC thanks Representative Cliff Bentz (R-OR) and Senators Steve Daines (R-MO), James Risch (R-ID), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for their leadership on this important bill.
