The Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources created the Hydro Power Committee in August 2003, to inform its members about issues and developments related to hydropower and hydroelectric projects. Major subjects for the Committee include (1) licensing and relicensing of projects with FERC, and (2) hydropower’s contribution to North America’s power supply while also meeting environmental responsibilities and other purposes of hydroelectric projects.

With regard to the licensing of non-federal projects, approximately 2,500 projects are operating under FERC licenses, and many of these will undergo a relicensing process in this decade. The process is complex, and during this process, FERC must consider consistency of a project with a multitude of Federal and non-federal laws and regulations. In addition to the existing Traditional Licensing Process and Alternative Licensing Process, FERC recently created a new Integrated Licensing Process, which a number of lead license applicants are now using to relicense existing projects.

With regard to hydropower’s contribution to North America’s power supply, hydroelectric generation provides approximately ten percent of the electricity in the United States. This source of generation has the benefits of being less expensive than other sources of energy, adding diversification to generation of the nation’s electrical energy, and using water, which is a renewable resource. Though hydropower is a non-air polluting source of electric generation, hydro projects, including dams, can affect water quality, water and riparian habitat, and species that are dependent on this water and riparian habitat. In addition, hydro projects often serve other beneficial uses such as flood control, navigation, water supply, irrigation, recreation, and fish and wildlife. These various uses oftentimes can be in conflict.

The Committee will inform its members about these and other matters raised by its members by (1) sponsoring or co-sponsoring a program at the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resource’s annual meetings, (2) preparing a hydropower chapter for the Section’s annual Year in Review, (3) contributing to newsletters, (4) communicating with members and prospective members by newsletter, e-mail, and this web page, (5) supporting joint efforts with the Section’s other committees, (6) exploring opportunities for developing a library of articles on hydropower developments, (7) participating in public service projects, and (8) arranging Quick Teleconferences on hot topics.