[Senate Report 115-310]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 535
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 115-310
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TO REQUIRE THE FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION TO SUBMIT TO
CONGRESS A REPORT ON CERTAIN HYDROPOWER PROJECTS
_______
July 31, 2018.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Ms. Murkowski, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1030]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 1030) to require the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission to submit to Congress a report on certain
hydropower projects, having considered the same, reports
favorably thereon with an amendment in the nature of a
substitute and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
AMENDMENT
The amendment is as follows:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. FERC REPORT ON CERTAIN HYDROPOWER PROJECTS.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act,
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (referred to in this section
as the ``FERC'') shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the
House of Representatives a report that--
(1) identifies each hydropower project licensed by the FERC
(referred to in this section as an ``identified project'') that
is--
(A) located at a nonpowered site that serves as
storage to support downstream power generation; and
(B) not part of a generation project licensed by
FERC;
(2) analyzes the financial value of electric power generation
associated with each identified project, relative to the best
available estimates of the financial value of nonpower
generation functions associated with the identified project,
including recreation and environmental functions;
(3) describes the range of options available under existing
law with respect to the surrender or transfer of a FERC license
for an identified project, including a representative range of
actual measures required by the FERC of identified project
owners that have surrendered or transferred a FERC license;
(4) identifies any general or readily identifiable project-
specific barriers to the surrender or transfer of a FERC
license for an identified project; and
(5) to the extent the information is available, identifies
the financial costs incurred by identified project owners
resulting from the requirements imposed by a FERC license or
other FERC requirements, including applicable costs broken down
by categories relating to--
(A) the environment, including fish and wildlife
measures;
(B) human safety;
(C) electric reliability;
(D) recreation;
(E) cultural resources;
(F) flood control; and
(G) any other relevant category, as determined by the
FERC.
PURPOSE
The purpose of S. 1030 is to require the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) to submit to
Congress a report on certain hydropower projects.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
In unique instances, the Commission has required non-power
producing dams to obtain a FERC license because the dams
contribute a small percentage of water that generates power
downstream. In a number of cases, license conditions have led
to operating costs that may be higher than the value of power
produced by the downstream facilities. In a specific case in
Maine, several non-powered dams that provide some local
ecological and recreational value have uncertain futures
because their owner prefers to surrender a license rather than
implement new fish and wildlife conditions. Further
identification and analysis of similar non-powered dams will
help understand the scope and impact of this situation
nationally.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 1030 was introduced by Senator King on May 3, 2017. The
Subcommittee on Water and Power held a legislative heating on
S. 1030 on June 14, 2017.
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in open
business session on May 17, 2018, and ordered S. 1030 favorably
reported, as amended.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in
open business session on May 17, 2018, by majority voice vote
of a quorum present recommends that the Senate pass S. 1030, if
amended as described herein.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
During its consideration of S. 1030, the Committee adopted
an amendment in the nature of a substitute to specify, for
purposes of FERC's report, that an identified hydropower
project shall not be part of a generation project licensed by
the Commission. The amendment also makes technical changes and
is further described in the section-by-section analysis.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1. FERC report on certain hydropower projects
Section 1 directs FERC to submit a report to the
Congressional authorizing committees identifying each
hydropower project licensed by the Commission that is located
at a non-powered site and is not part of a licensed generation
project within 180 days of the Act's enactment. This section
further specifies the additional information required for the
report, including analyzing the financial value of the electric
power generation associated with each project compared to the
estimated financial value of the project's nonpower generation
functions; describing the range of legal options available for
the surrender or transfer of FERC licenses; identifying any
project-specific barriers to the surrender of FERC licenses;
and, to the extent possible, identifying the financial costs
incurred by project owners in compliance with FERC license
requirements, including costs relating to the environment,
safety, electric reliability, recreation, cultural resources,
flood control, and any other relevant category identified by
the Commission.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
The following estimate of the costs of this measure has
been provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
CBO estimates that implementing S. 1030 would have no
significant net effect on the federal budget. The bill would
require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to
report to the Congress on various aspects of hydropower
projects at nonpowered sites that are not part of FERC-licensed
projects that generate power. The bill would require FERC to
identify all such projects and analyze their potential
financial value with regard to both power and nonpower
functions.
Completing the proposed report would increase FERC's
administrative costs by less than $500,000. However, because
FERC recovers 100 percent of its costs through user fees, any
change in that agency's costs (which are controlled through
annual appropriation acts) would be offset by an equal change
in fees that the commission charges, resulting in a negligible
net change in federal spending.
Enacting S. 1030 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 1030 would not increase net
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
S. 1030 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION
In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in
carrying out S. 1030. The bill is not a regulatory measure in
the sense of imposing Government-established standards or
significant economic responsibilities on private individuals
and businesses.
No personal information would be collected in administering
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal
privacy.
Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the
enactment of S. 1030, as ordered reported.
CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING
S. 1030, as ordered reported, does not contain any
congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits,
or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the
Standing Rules of the Senate.
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
The written testimony provided by FERC at the June 14,
2017, hearing on S. 1030 follows:
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
Office of the Chairman,
Washington, DC, May 9, 2017
Hon. Lisa Murkowski,
Chairman, Energy and Natural Resources Committee,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Murkowski: Thank you for the opportunity to
comment on S. 1029, a bill to amend the Public Utilities
Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) to exempt certain small
hydroelectric projects, and S. 1030, a bill to require the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to submit to Congress a
report on certain hydroelectric projects.
S. 1030
While most of the hydropower projects licensed by the
Commission include generating facilities, there are some
reservoirs included in licensed projects, and some stand-alone
projects, that do not include such facilities, but rather serve
the purpose of storing and releasing flows to facilitate
downstream generation.
S. 1030 would require the Commission to submit to Congress,
not later than 180 days from the date of enactment of the bill,
a report that: identifies non-powered storage projects;
analyzes the value of generation and non-generation aspects of
those projects; describes the ranges of options with respect to
surrender or transfer of licenses; identifies barriers to
surrender or transfer; and identifies the cost of license
requirements relating to environmental protection, human
safety, electric reliability, recreation, cultural resources,
flood control, navigation, irrigation, and other matters.
The Commission will be pleased to submit to Congress any
information it requires. It would be helpful to obtain
clarification regarding some of the items to be covered by the
report prior to the Commission gathering the information from
our licensees. For example, is Congress seeking information
about projects consisting solely of storage reservoirs, or also
about storage reservoirs that are part of licensed generation
projects? With respect to the analysis of non-power values, is
Congress seeking the cost of environmental and recreational
measures or their financial value? The latter may not be easy
to establish, given the difficulty in placing an absolute value
on environmental or other matters. For example, the value of a
fish or of a recreational opportunity is generally considered
to be highly subjective. In identifying barriers to license
surrender or transfer, is Congress looking for general or
project-specific information? Project specific information may
be difficult to obtain, since it will depend, in large part, on
financial and other considerations faced by each licensee,
which will vary from case-to-case and be best understood by
licensees.
As to costs incurred by licensees, the Commission does
include in licenses the estimated costs of environmental
measures, recreation, cultural resource protection, and
Commission-imposed flood control measures. The Commission does
not impose electric reliability measures in licenses and so
could have difficulty determining the costs of such measures.
Likewise, the Commission does not typically require irrigation
measures, which are usually governed by state water rights, and
so we would not have information on this topic. Finally, as to
measures to protect human safety, the Commission requires
licensees to undertake whatever measures are required to ensure
public safety at the time these issues are identified through
the Commission's ongoing, thorough dam safety inspection
program. These measures are required whenever they are
necessary and are imposed separately, rather than being
determined during the licensing process and included in a
license.
I hope that these comments have been helpful. Please do not
hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance on
this or any other Commission matter.
Sincerely,
Cheryl A. Lafleur,
Acting Chairman.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no
changes in existing law are made by the bill as ordered
reported.