II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3570 

To improve hydropower, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 13, 2010 

Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. CANTWELL, and Mr. CRAPO) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To improve hydropower, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Hydropower Improvement Act of 2010’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

Sec. 4. Sense of Congress on the use of hydropower renewable resources. 

Sec. 5. Grants for improvements for increased hydropower production. 

Sec. 6. Plan for research, development, and demonstration to increase hydropower capacity. 

Sec. 7. Notice of inquiry for minimal impact hydropower projects. 

Sec. 8. FERC authority to extend preliminary permit terms. 


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Sec. 9. Streamlining review process for conduit hydropower projects. 

Sec. 10. Non-Federal hydropower development at Bureau of Reclamation 

projects. 

Sec. 11. Pumped storage study. 

Sec. 12. National Renewable Energy Deployment Program. 

Sec. 13. Hydroelectric power worker training. 

Sec. 14. Report on memorandum of understanding on hydropower. 

Sec. 15. Nonapplication to Federal Power Marketing Administrations. 

Sec. 16. Budgetary effects. 

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) hydropower is the largest source of clean, 

4 renewable electricity in the United States; 

5 (2) as of the date of enactment of this Act, hy6 dropower resources, including pumped storage facili7 ties, provide— 

8 (A) 7 percent of the electricity generated 

9 in the United States, avoiding 225,000,000 

10 metric tons of carbon emissions each year; and 

11 (B) approximately 96,000 megawatts of 

12 electric capacity in the United States; 

13 (3) only 3 percent of the 80,000 dams in the 

14 United States generate electricity so there is sub15 stantial potential for adding hydropower generation 

16 to nonpower dams; 

17 (4) in every State, a tremendous untapped 

18 growth potential exists in hydropower resources, in19 cluding— 

20 (A) efficiency improvements and capacity 

21 additions; 


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1 (B) adding generation to nonpower dams; 

2 (C) conduit hydropower; 

3 (D) conventional hydropower; 

4 (E) pumped storage facilities; and 

5 (F) new marine and hydrokinetic re6 sources; and 

7 (5) improvements in increased hydropower pro8 duction in the United States have the potential— 

9 (A) to create hundreds of thousands of 

10 new green jobs during the next 15 years; 

11 (B) to increase the clean energy generation 

12 of the United States; and 

13 (C) to provide ancillary benefits that in14 clude grid reliability, energy storage, and inte15 gration services for variable renewable re16 sources. 

17 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

18 In this Act: 

19 (1) CONDUIT.—The term ‘‘conduit’’ means any 

20 tunnel, canal, pipeline, aqueduct, flume, ditch, or 

21 similar manmade water conveyance that is operated 

22 for the distribution of water for agricultural, munic23 ipal, or industrial consumption and not primarily for 

24 the generation of electricity. 


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1 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Energy. 

3 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE USE OF HYDRO4 POWER RENEWABLE RESOURCES. 

5 It is the sense of Congress that the United States 

6 should increase substantially the capacity and generation 

7 of clean, renewable hydropower resources which will im8 prove environmental quality in the United States and sup9 port hundreds of thousands of green energy jobs. 

10 SEC. 5. GRANTS FOR IMPROVEMENTS FOR INCREASED HY11 DROPOWER PRODUCTION. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after the 

13 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish 

14 in the Department of Energy a program under which the 

15 Secretary shall make competitive grants to eligible entities 

16 that— 

17 (1) make efficiency improvements or capacity 

18 additions at an existing hydroelectric power gener19 ating facility; 

20 (2) add hydropower generation to a nonpower 

21 dam; 

22 (3) develop pumped storage facilities; 

23 (4) address aging infrastructure at existing hy24 droelectric power generating facilities; and 


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1 (5) develop hydroelectric generation within ex2 isting conduits. 

3 (b) ADMINISTRATION.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

5 terms and conditions, including eligibility, for the re6 ceipt of grants under this section. 

7 (2) INCLUSIONS.—In carrying out this section, 

8 the Secretary shall ensure that powerhouses and 

9 projects that require new dam infrastructure are in10 cluded among the eligible entities that may receive 

11 grants under this section. 

12 (c) COST SHARING.—The Secretary shall carry out 

13 the program under this section in compliance with sections 

14 988 and 989 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 

15 16352, 16353). 

16 (d) FUNDING.—From amounts made available under 

17 section 625(e) of the Energy Independence and Security 

18 Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17204(e)), the Secretary may use 

19 to carry out this section $50,000,000 for each of fiscal 

20 years 2011 through 2015, of which not more than 20 per21 cent of the amount made available for a fiscal year may 

22 be used to carry out an individual project. 


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1 SEC. 6. PLAN FOR RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEM2 ONSTRATION TO INCREASE HYDROPOWER 

3 CAPACITY. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall estab6 lish, and submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

7 Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy 

8 and Commerce of the House of Representatives, a plan— 

9 (1) to facilitate through technology research, 

10 development, and demonstration the increased use of 

11 hydropower renewable resources in accordance with 

12 section 4; and 

13 (2) to coordinate research and development on 

14 advanced hydropower technologies. 

15 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall— 

16 (1) implement the plan established under this 

17 section as soon as practicable after the date of en18 actment of this Act; and 

19 (2) review and update the plan on an annual 

20 basis. 

21 (c) COST SHARING.—The Secretary shall carry out 

22 the program under this section in compliance with sections 

23 988 and 989 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 

24 16352, 16353). 

25 (d) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall coordinate, 

26 to the maximum extent practicable, activities under this 


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1 section with other programs of the Department of Energy 

2 and other Federal research programs. 

3 (e) FUNDING.—From amounts made available under 

4 section 401(a) of the American Clean Energy Leadership 

5 Act of 2009, the Secretary may use to carry out this sec6 tion $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 

7 2015. 

8 SEC. 7. NOTICE OF INQUIRY FOR MINIMAL IMPACT HYDRO9 POWER PROJECTS. 

10 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

12 means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 

13 (2) MINIMAL IMPACT HYDROPOWER

14 PROJECT.—The term ‘‘minimal impact hydropower 

15 project’’ means— 

16 (A) the addition of hydropower generation 

17 to an existing nonpower dam if the addition of 

18 the project will not cause any significant envi19 ronmental impact; or 

20 (B) closed-loop hydropower storage that 

21 does not require any change in an existing di22 version or impoundment of a river, and other23 wise will not cause any significant environ24 mental impacts under applicable law. 


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1 (b) NOTICE OF INQUIRY.—Not later than 180 days 

2 after the date of enactment of this section, the Commis3 sion shall issue a notice of inquiry for the licensing of pro4 posed minimal impact hydropower projects that take not 

5 more than 2 years from the beginning of the prefiling li6 censing process to the issuance of a license by the Com7 mission. 

8 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the com9 pletion of the notice of inquiry under subsection (b), the 

10 Commission shall submit to the Committee on Energy and 

11 Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on 

12 Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 

13 a report that describes the results of the notice of inquiry. 

14 SEC. 8. FERC AUTHORITY TO EXTEND PRELIMINARY PER15 MIT TERMS. 

16 Section 5 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 798) 

17 is amended— 

18 (1) by designating the first, second, and third 

19 sentences as subsections (a), (c), and (d), respec20 tively; and 

21 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) (as so des22 ignated) the following: 

23 ‘‘(b) EXTENSION.—The Commission may extend the 

24 term of a preliminary permit once for not more than 2 

25 additional years if the Commission finds that the perVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:38 Jul 13, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3570.IS S3570

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1 mittee has carried out activities under the permit in good 

2 faith and with reasonable diligence.’’. 

3 SEC. 9. STREAMLINING REVIEW PROCESS FOR CONDUIT 

4 HYDROPOWER PROJECTS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 30 of the Federal Power 

6 Act (16 U.S.C. 823a) is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraphs 

8 (1) and (2) and inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘(1) is located on non-Federal lands or Federal 

10 lands; and 

11 ‘‘(2) uses for the generation only the hydro12 electric potential of a conduit.’’; and 

13 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(f) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—This section shall not apply 

15 to any reclamation projects under which hydroelectric 

16 power development has been reserved— 

17 ‘‘(1) under Federal law or by regulation or 

18 order, exclusively for development under Federal rec19 lamation law; or 

20 ‘‘(2) for non-Federal development under rec21 lamation law. 

22 ‘‘(g) DEFINITION OF CONDUIT.—In this section, the 

23 term ‘conduit’ means any tunnel, canal, pipeline, aque24 duct, flume, ditch, or similar manmade water conveyance 

25 that is operated for the distribution of water for agriculVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:38 Jul 13, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3570.IS S3570

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1 tural, municipal, or industrial consumption and not pri2 marily for the generation of electricity.’’. 

3 (b) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON CON4 DUIT HYDROPOWER PROJECTS.—Not later than 180 days 

5 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal En6 ergy Regulatory Commission shall enter into a memo7 randum of understanding with relevant Federal agencies 

8 that have conditioning authority under section 30(c)(1) of 

9 the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 823a(c)(1))— 

10 (1) to establish a coordinated and streamlined 

11 approach to any environmental impact statement or 

12 similar analysis required under the National Envi13 ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 

14 seq.) relating to the consideration of conduit hydro15 power projects; and 

16 (2) to develop and carry out an expedited ap17 proval process for conduit hydropower projects. 

18 (c) PUBLIC WORKSHOPS AND PILOT PROJECTS ON

19 CONDUIT HYDROPOWER PROJECTS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after 

21 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commissioner 

22 of Reclamation and the Federal Energy Regulatory 

23 Commission shall conduct 3 public workshops with 

24 relevant stakeholders, including water users and the 


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1 environmental community, to identify ways in which 

2 the conduit approval process may be modified— 

3 (A) to reduce barriers to conduit hydro4 power projects, including barriers created by 

5 project costs or the timeframe for approval and 

6 maintain adequate environmental, health, and 

7 safety protections; and 

8 (B) to develop pilot projects in conjunction 

9 with voluntary participants to demonstrate 

10 flexible and innovative ways to reduce barriers 

11 to conduit hydropower while maintaining ade12 quate environmental, health, and safety protec13 tions. 

14 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

15 the date of the completion of the workshops under 

16 paragraph (1), the Commissioner of Reclamation 

17 and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

18 shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con19 gress a report that describes any recommendations 

20 for the conduit approval process developed in the 

21 workshops and pilot projects described in paragraph 

22 (1). 

23 (3) FUNDING.—From amounts made available 

24 under section 9503(f) of the Omnibus Public Land 

25 Management Act of 2009 (42 U.S.C. 10363(f)), the 


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1 Secretary may use to carry out pilot projects de2 scribed in paragraph (1)(B) $5,000,000 for the pe3 riod of fiscal years 2011 through 2015, to remain 

4 available until expended. 

5 SEC. 10. NON-FEDERAL HYDROPOWER DEVELOPMENT AT 

6 BUREAU OF RECLAMATION PROJECTS. 

7 (a) STUDY OF NON-FEDERAL HYDROPOWER DEVEL8 OPMENT AT BUREAU OF RECLAMATION PROJECTS.—Not 

9 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

10 section, the Commissioner of Reclamation (in consultation 

11 with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, pref12 erence power customers, water users, and other interested 

13 stakeholders) shall— 

14 (1) conduct a study of barriers to non-Federal 

15 hydropower development at Bureau of Reclamation 

16 projects; and 

17 (2) report to Congress the results of the study. 

18 (b) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—Not later 

19 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, 

20 the Commissioner of Reclamation and the Federal Energy 

21 Regulatory Commission shall develop and issue a revised 

22 interagency memorandum of understanding to improve the 

23 coordination and timeliness of the non-Federal develop24 ment of hydropower resources at Bureau of Reclamation 

25 projects. 


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1 SEC. 11. PUMPED STORAGE STUDY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordination 

3 with the Director of the United States Geological Survey, 

4 shall conduct a study (including identification) of Federal 

5 land that is well-suited for pumped storage sites and is 

6 located near existing or potential sites of intermittent re7 newable resource development, such as wind farms. 

8 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to 

10 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 

11 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 

12 the House of Representatives a report that describes the 

13 results of the study conducted under subsection (a), in14 cluding any recommendations. 

15 SEC. 12. NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY DEPLOYMENT 

16 PROGRAM. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 803 of the Energy Inde18 pendence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17282) is 

19 amended by striking the section heading and inserting 

20 ‘‘NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY DEPLOYMENT

21 PROGRAM’’. 

22 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 803(a) of the Energy 

23 Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 

24 17282(a)) is amended— 

25 (1) by striking paragraph (1); 


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1 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through 

2 (4) as paragraphs (1) through (3), respectively; and 

3 (3) in paragraph (3)(B)(iv) (as so redesig4 nated), by striking ‘‘Alaska small’’. 

5 (c) RENEWABLE ENERGY CONSTRUCTION

6 GRANTS.—Section 803(b) of the Energy Independence 

7 and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17282(b)) is amend8 ed— 

9 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘establish a 

10 national renewable energy construction grants pro11 gram under which the Secretary shall’’ after ‘‘shall’’; 

12 and 

13 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(5) PRIORITY.—In making grants to eligible 

15 applicants to carry out renewable energy projects 

16 under this section, the Secretary shall give priority 

17 to applicants that— 

18 ‘‘(A) have power costs that are 125 per19 cent or more of average national retail costs; or 

20 ‘‘(B) will use the grant to construct renew21 able electricity projects to replace fossil fuel 

22 projects.’’. 

23 SEC. 13. HYDROELECTRIC POWER WORKER TRAINING. 

24 Section 439(b) of the American Clean Energy Lead25 ership Act of 2009 is amended in the second sentence— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

2 the semicolon at the end; 

3 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at 

4 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

5 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(8) hydroelectric power technology.’’. 

7 SEC. 14. REPORT ON MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING 

8 ON HYDROPOWER. 

9 Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 

10 of this Act, the President shall submit to the Committee 

11 on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the 

12 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

13 Representatives a report on actions taken by the Depart14 ment of Energy, the Department of the Interior, and the 

15 Corps of Engineers to carry out the memorandum of un16 derstanding on hydropower entered into on March 24, 

17 2010, with particular emphasis on actions taken by the 

18 agencies to work together and investigate ways to effi19 ciently and responsibly facilitate the Federal permitting 

20 process for Federal and non-Federal hydropower projects 

21 at Federal facilities, within existing authority. 

22 SEC. 15. NONAPPLICATION TO FEDERAL POWER MAR23 KETING ADMINISTRATIONS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act and the amendments 

25 made by this Act shall not— 


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1 (1) apply to a hydroelectric project that pro2 vides power marketed by a Federal Power Marketing 

3 Administration; or 

4 (2) impact any additions, improvements, or re5 placements of hydroelectric generation at Federal 

6 projects carried out by a Federal Power Marketing 

7 Administration; 

8 (b) MODIFICATIONS.—Nothing in this Act limits the 

9 authority under existing law of a Federal Power Mar10 keting Administrator in the event that operations at Fed11 eral projects with hydropower facilities are modified. 

12 SEC. 16. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

13 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

14 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

15 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

16 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

17 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

18 by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, pro19 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

20 vote on passage. 

Æ 


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