To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to extend the time period during which licensees are required to commence construction of certain hydropower projects.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed SenateMr. Daines (for himself, Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Kennedy, …
Passed Senate (inferred from es version)
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill allows the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to grant up to 6 additional years (in 2-year increments) for hydropower licensees to begin construction on projects that were licensed before March 13, 2020. This addresses delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors.
Who Benefits and How
Hydropower developers with pre-COVID licenses can extend their construction deadlines without losing their licenses. Energy investors benefit from regulatory flexibility protecting their license investments.
Who Bears the Burden and How
No significant burdens - this provides relief to licensees. FERC has existing processes for extension requests.
Key Provisions
- Allows up to 6 additional years beyond the normal 8-year construction period
- Extensions granted in 2-year increments for "good cause"
- Covers projects licensed before March 13, 2020
- Can reinstate licenses that expired after December 31, 2023
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Allows FERC to extend hydropower construction commencement deadlines by up to 6 additional years for projects licensed before March 2020, addressing COVID-related delays.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Provide regulatory relief to address pandemic-era project delays"
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_commission"
- → Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A hydropower project with respect to which FERC issued a license before March 13, 2020
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology