HR2074-119

What This Bill Does

The POWER Act makes it harder for federal officials to breach or retire federally operated hydropower dams. The Secretary of the Army may not breach a federally operated dam if the breach would increase carbon emissions by more than 5 percent, make the affected water body less navigable for commercial interests, increase product prices, including agricultural shipping costs, by at least 5 percent, or require a replacement energy resource occupying at least 5 percent more land than the dam. Those determinations require consultation with the Energy, Transportation, Agriculture, and Commerce Secretaries and relevant state agencies, plus an Interior-coordinated study of dam acreage. The bill separately bars the Secretary of the Interior for Bureau of Reclamation dams and the Secretary of the Army for Army Corps dams from retiring a hydropower generation source if retirement would raise customer electricity rates by more than 5 percent or reduce energy reliability by more than 5 percent in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, or California, as determined by Bonneville Power Administration. If a source is retired, 100 percent of its baseload generation must be replaced within 30 days.

Who Benefits and How

Hydropower customers in the Pacific Northwest benefit from protections against dam retirement that would raise rates or reduce reliability by more than five percent. Agricultural shippers benefit because dam breaches are barred when product shipping prices would rise by at least five percent. Commercial navigation users benefit because the Army Secretary must consider whether breaching would make waterways less navigable. Bonneville Power Administration planners benefit from statutory authority to assess regional reliability impacts before retirement.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Army Corps of Engineers faces limits on breaching dams and must consult multiple agencies before determining impacts. The Bureau of Reclamation faces limits on retiring federally operated hydropower sources in the covered western states. Dam removal advocates lose federal options when emissions, navigation, cost, land-use, rate, or reliability thresholds are triggered. Federal hydropower managers must replace 100 percent of retired baseload generation within 30 days if a retirement proceeds.

Key Provisions

• Bars federally operated dam breaches that would increase emissions by more than five percent.
• Bars breaches that would reduce commercial navigability or raise shipped-product prices by at least five percent.
• Requires interagency consultation and acreage analysis before considering a federal dam breach.
• Prohibits hydropower retirement when rates or western-state reliability would worsen by more than five percent.
• Requires full replacement of retired baseload generation within 30 days.