House approves bill to expand hydropower
WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House has approved a bill aimed at expanding hydroelectric power, an action supporters said would boost a clean source of renewable energy but opponents denounced as a giveaway to large power companies.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, would define hydropower as a renewable energy source and streamline the way projects are licensed, with primary authority granted to a single federal agency. Lawmakers approved the bill Wednesday, 257-166.
Power from rivers and streams makes up nearly 70 per cent of electricity generated in Washington state and accounts for more than 50 per cent of power in Oregon and Idaho and 36 per cent in Montana. But hydropower only accounts for 7 per cent of electricity nationwide.
McMorris Rodgers, the fourth-highest ranking Republican, said that figure could be doubled without constructing a single dam. While it takes an average of 18 months to license a new natural gas plant, it can take up to 10 years or longer to license a new dam or relicense an existing dam, she and other Republicans said.