House advances bill easing hydropower rules

“What it promises is this: at precisely no cost to taxpayers, freeing up absolutely clean electricity on a scale so vast, that it would take several hydroelectric dams to duplicate,” Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said. “Simply by relaxing the regulatory stranglehold, simply by getting government bureaucracies out of the way, this bill has the potential of adding thousands of megawatts of absolutely clean and renewable electricity to the nation’s energy supply.”

{mosads}McClintock and other Republicans said current rules require water developers to go through a lengthy environmental approval process that can slow the development of hydropower, and slammed environmentalists for criticizing the bill. “Instead of embracing this measure, these radical elements instead throw a conniption fit,” he said.

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) said there is no good reason to exempt hydropower projects from environmental review, and argued that these reviews have not held up power plants.

“It provides a categorical exemption for all small hydropower projects from National Environmental Policy Act compliance,” she said of the bill. “There’s no clear reason for this exemption from environmental protection.”

Republicans, however, noted that the bill enjoys bipartisan support, as seen in the 30-12 vote in the House Natural Resources Committee. In that October vote, however, only three Democrats supported the bill.

The rule was approved by voice vote after a roll call vote to order the previous question. House passage of the rule allowed members to immediately begin debate on the bill itself, and possible amendments.