Legislation will increase hydropower development and better address maintenance backlog at Bureau of Reclamation facilities.
Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.
WASHINGTON, DC –Today, at a Senate Water and Power Subcommittee hearing, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke in favor of two important hydropower bills: his Bureau of Reclamation Transparency Act (S. 1800) and the Bureau of Reclamation Conduit Hydropower Development Equity and Jobs Act (S. 2010). Both bills were introduced by Barrasso during the 113th Congress.
Bureau of Reclamation Transparency Act (S. 1800)
“Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. I have two bills, as you know, on this hearing today, S. 1800, the Bureau of Reclamation Transparency Act, and S. 2010, the Bureau of Reclamation Conduit Hydropower Development Equity and Jobs Act.
“I would also note that I am pleased to be sitting in for Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Lee.
“He and I share the same concerns regarding addressing aging infrastructure, and promoting hydropower, especially in the West where Bureau of Reclamation facilities are located.
“Water is the most fundamental issue in my home state of Wyoming.
“The need to provide a clean, abundant supply of water is essential to the survival
of the inter-mountain West.
“The infrastructure we have today in my home state, and across the nation, is aging.
“Where the weak points are, we do not fully know.
“The longer we wait, the more likely these facilities will fall in to disrepair.
“This will impact the economic livelihood of ranchers and farmers in Wyoming, and across the West that rely on these facilities to provide water.
“I am very concerned that the Interior Department, and its leadership, has been less than forthcoming about the depth and scope of this problem.
“In 2008 Reclamation testified that the backlog was $3.2 billion.
“Similar figures have been quoted by the Administration officials since then.
“I still have not been able to get the information as to how these figures have been constructed,
nor have I been able to get a complete written list of the complete maintenance backlog for my home State of Wyoming.
“I have introduced legislation, the Bureau of Reclamation Transparency Act, which would provide the maintenance and public safety information by project so Congress can address our backlog.
“I want to work together with my colleagues to get the answers we need, and to find the solutions that we need, to improve the aging water delivery systems and Bureau of Reclamation facilities across the West.
“Mr. Chairman, I think this is a commonsense bill that will accomplish that.
“I would want to thank the Chairman of this Subcommittee for being an original cosponsor of this important legislation.”
S. 1800 requires the Interior Department to release a report every 2 years detailing specific repairs and rehabilitation needs at Bureau of Reclamation facilities.
Bureau of Reclamation Conduit Hydropower Development Equity and Jobs Act (S. 2010)
“Also, briefly like to mention S. 2010, the Bureau of Reclamation Conduit Hydropower Development Equity and Jobs Act.
“This act builds on common sense legislation that I am proud to have worked on with Representative Scott Tipton in spurring private investment in clean hydroelectric power generation on existing Reclamation conduits all over the West.
“That bipartisan bill is now public law, and the legislation we consider here today, a companion to H.R. 1963 in the House, would complete the goal of allowing non-federal interests to develop electricity at federal facilitates.
“This bill will do this by promoting hydropower development at projects authorized under a very different statute than those covered by the previous legislation.
“Taken together, Public Law 133-24 and S. 2010 would facilitate the development of clean, renewable energy at over 373 sites across the West, lowering power costs to customers and creating new jobs in rural America, while raising federal revenue.
“Mr. Chairman, I would ask that after this hearing that both these bills be added to the earliest possible full committee markup.
“And thank you for your help and thank you for the testimony of those here today.”
S. 2010 removes statutory impediments by authorizing non-federal hydropower development at Bureau of Reclamation facilities and provides administrative and regulatory reforms necessary to foster such development.
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