SEATTLE – The Bush administration has proposed giving dam owners the exclusive right to appeal Interior Department rulings about how dams should be licensed and operated on American rivers, through a little-noticed regulatory tweak that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the hydropower industry.
The proposal would prevent states, Indian tribes and environmental groups from making their own appeals, while granting dam owners the opportunity to take their complaints – and suggested solutions – directly to senior political appointees in the Interior Department.
The proposal, which is subject to public comment but can be approved by the administration without congressional involvement, would use the president’s rule-making power to circumvent opposition to the idea among Senate Democrats. They killed an administration-backed energy bill that included similar language, for which the hydropower industry had lobbied.
The proposed rule comes at a pivotal time in the history of the hydropower industry. Most privately owned dams were built – and granted 30-to-50-year federal licenses – in an era before federal environmental laws required protection for fish and other riverine life. In the next 15 years, licenses for more than half of the country’s privately owned dams will come up for renewal.
The hydropower industry has complained that to comply with the law and renew their licenses with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, dam owners are being forced to pay large settlements to mitigate the environmental harm that dams cause fish and communities that depend on fish.
The typical settlement cost is about $10 million, the industry has said, but some settlements have been as much as $200 million. By allowing the industry the exclusive right to present alternative settlement ideas, the proposed appeal rule could substantially reduce the cost of renewing a dam license.
Dam owners “would be facing an extremely high cost and very uncertain benefits,” said Lynn Scarlett, the assistant secretary at Interior for policy, management and budget who approved the proposed rule. “Giving them some ability to voice their concern and present alternatives seemed appropriate.”
Scarlett said other interest groups, during earlier stages in the licensing process, would retain their right to be heard.
The proposal has generated widespread criticism from Democrats in Congress and attorneys general in several states, from Indian tribes and environmental groups and from some high-level officials and scientists in the Interior Department.
“As was true of the failed Republican energy bill, the administration’s hydro proposal would protect utility profits at the expense of fish, wildlife and conservation values,” said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
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