Hydropower Licensing Transparency Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Hydropower Licensing Transparency Act adds a new annual licensing status report requirement to the Federal Power Act. Within 180 days after enactment and each year afterward, FERC must report to Congress on delayed hydropower license proceedings where an applicant or existing licensee gave notice of intent at least three years earlier but the original, new, or subsequent license has not yet been issued.
Who Benefits and How
Hydropower license applicants benefit from more transparency about docket status, expected issuance dates, upcoming meetings, and actions still required from FERC or other agencies. Existing hydropower licensees seeking new or subsequent licenses benefit because delayed relicensing proceedings would be visible to Congress. Congressional energy committees benefit from a recurring inventory of stalled license processes and agency responsibilities. Tribes, states, municipalities, corporations, associations, and citizens pursuing original licenses benefit from the same status reporting when their proceedings have been pending long enough.
Who Bears the Burden and How
FERC hydropower licensing staff must compile and submit annual reports covering notices of intent, docket numbers, application status, expected license issuance dates, upcoming proceedings, and actions required from licensees, applicants, FERC, fish and wildlife agencies, and other agencies. Fish and wildlife agencies and other permitting agencies may face more congressional visibility into unfinished actions. Licensees and applicants may need to verify or respond to listed pending actions.
Key Provisions
- Requires FERC within 180 days and annually thereafter to report on new or subsequent hydropower licenses where notice of intent was filed at least three years earlier and no license has issued.
- Requires the same reporting for original hydropower licenses where a citizen, association, corporation, state, tribe, or municipality gave notice at least three years earlier and no license has issued.
- Requires each report to include notice dates, docket numbers, application status, anticipated issuance dates, upcoming proceedings, and ongoing or completed actions required from each relevant party.
- Requires report information to be disaggregated by new license, subsequent license, or original license.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires FERC to submit annual public-status reports to Congress on delayed hydropower original, new, and subsequent license proceedings.
Key Policy Areas
Energy, Hydropower, Federal Oversight
Primary Purpose
Requires FERC to submit annual public-status reports to Congress on delayed hydropower original, new, and subsequent license proceedings.
Policy Domains
FERC hydropower licensing status reports
Identified Gains
- Existing hydropower licensees awaiting relicensing
- Original hydropower license applicants
- Indian Tribes pursuing hydropower licenses
- Congressional energy oversight staff
Identified Costs
- FERC hydropower licensing staff
- Fish and wildlife agency licensing reviewers
- Hydropower applicants with pending required actions
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported …
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and …
Ms. Cortez Masto (for herself and Mr. Daines) introduced the …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
FERC hydropower licensing staff, Fish and wildlife agency licensing reviewers
Existing hydropower licensees awaiting relicensing, Original hydropower license applicants
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "commission"
- → Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
- "existing_licensee"
- → Existing hydropower licensee seeking a new or subsequent license
- "original_license_applicant"
- → Citizen, association, corporation, State, Indian Tribe, or municipality seeking an original hydropower license
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A FERC report to Congress on delayed original, new, and subsequent hydropower license proceedings with notice, docket, status, schedule, and required-action information.
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