Bonneville Dam. Photo: Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers reintroduced her hydropower permitting package on Monday.
Why it matters: One of the GOP's most powerful members is jockeying for more "permitting reform" post-debt deal, raising the odds of more deals.
Driving the news: McMorris Rodgers unveiled her Hydropower Clean Energy Future Act to plaudits from hydro industry groups and GOP-aligned conservationists including Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions.
- The bill, which she also introduced last Congress, would codify licensing timelines for hydropower projects and exempt facilities below a certain scope and wattage from some environmental review requirements.
- It would also modify the definition of "renewable energy" to explicitly include hydropower in certain statutes, like the Energy Policy Act.
- "This legislation will help preserve our existing hydropower fleet and bring more power online as demand grows into the future," McMorris Rodgers said in a statement.
Between the lines: Hydro's certainly a renewable resource. But it's unlikely that this bill is one of the bipartisan energy wins moderate Dems are seeking.
- The bill was introduced with no initial cosponsors. It received no Dem cosponsors the last go-around, a scenario that would make movement in the Senate an uphill battle if it managed to get out of the House.
- A likely reason is that environmentalists object to provisions they say allow the federal government to waive Endangered Species Act requirements for hydro projects — although a House Energy and Commerce aide told Axios the bill doesn’t allow that.
- It's a tough pill for them to swallow at a time when some fish face increasingly dire survival prospects because of climate change.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to make clear that it is environmentalists who contend the bill would allow the federal government to waive Endangered Species Act requirements.
