[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 267 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.267

                     One Hundred Thirteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,
           the third day of January, two thousand and thirteen


                                 An Act


 
             To improve hydropower, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Hydropower 
Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Promoting small hydroelectric power projects.
Sec. 4. Promoting conduit hydropower projects.
Sec. 5. FERC authority to extend preliminary permit periods.
Sec. 6. Promoting hydropower development at nonpowered dams and closed 
          loop pumped storage projects.
Sec. 7. DOE study of pumped storage and potential hydropower from 
          conduits.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
    Congress finds that--
        (1) the hydropower industry currently employs approximately 
    300,000 workers across the United States;
        (2) hydropower is the largest source of clean, renewable 
    electricity in the United States;
        (3) as of the date of enactment of this Act, hydropower 
    resources, including pumped storage facilities, provide--
            (A) nearly 7 percent of the electricity generated in the 
        United States; and
            (B) approximately 100,000 megawatts of electric capacity in 
        the United States;
        (4) only 3 percent of the 80,000 dams in the United States 
    generate electricity, so there is substantial potential for adding 
    hydropower generation to nonpowered dams; and
        (5) according to one study, by utilizing currently untapped 
    resources, the United States could add approximately 60,000 
    megawatts of new hydropower capacity by 2025, which could create 
    700,000 new jobs over the next 13 years.
SEC. 3. PROMOTING SMALL HYDROELECTRIC POWER PROJECTS.
    Subsection (d) of section 405 of the Public Utility Regulatory 
Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2705) is amended by striking ``5,000'' 
and inserting ``10,000''.
SEC. 4. PROMOTING CONDUIT HYDROPOWER PROJECTS.
    (a) Applicability of, and Exemption From, Licensing Requirements.--
Section 30 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 823a) is amended--
        (1) by striking subsections (a) and (b) and inserting the 
    following:
    ``(a)(1) A qualifying conduit hydropower facility shall not be 
required to be licensed under this part.
    ``(2)(A) Any person, State, or municipality proposing to construct 
a qualifying conduit hydropower facility shall file with the Commission 
a notice of intent to construct such facility. The notice shall include 
sufficient information to demonstrate that the facility meets the 
qualifying criteria.
    ``(B) Not later than 15 days after receipt of a notice of intent 
filed under subparagraph (A), the Commission shall--
        ``(i) make an initial determination as to whether the facility 
    meets the qualifying criteria; and
        ``(ii) if the Commission makes an initial determination, 
    pursuant to clause (i), that the facility meets the qualifying 
    criteria, publish public notice of the notice of intent filed under 
    subparagraph (A).
    ``(C) If, not later than 45 days after the date of publication of 
the public notice described in subparagraph (B)(ii)--
        ``(i) an entity contests whether the facility meets the 
    qualifying criteria, the Commission shall promptly issue a written 
    determination as to whether the facility meets such criteria; or
        ``(ii) no entity contests whether the facility meets the 
    qualifying criteria, the facility shall be deemed to meet such 
    criteria.
    ``(3) For purposes of this section:
        ``(A) The term `conduit' means any tunnel, canal, pipeline, 
    aqueduct, flume, ditch, or similar manmade water conveyance that is 
    operated for the distribution of water for agricultural, municipal, 
    or industrial consumption and not primarily for the generation of 
    electricity.
        ``(B) The term `qualifying conduit hydropower facility' means a 
    facility (not including any dam or other impoundment) that is 
    determined or deemed under paragraph (2)(C) to meet the qualifying 
    criteria.
        ``(C) The term `qualifying criteria' means, with respect to a 
    facility--
            ``(i) the facility is constructed, operated, or maintained 
        for the generation of electric power and uses for such 
        generation only the hydroelectric potential of a non-federally 
        owned conduit;
            ``(ii) the facility has an installed capacity that does not 
        exceed 5 megawatts; and
            ``(iii) on or before the date of enactment of the 
        Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013, the facility is 
        not licensed under, or exempted from the license requirements 
        contained in, this part.
    ``(b) Subject to subsection (c), the Commission may grant an 
exemption in whole or in part from the requirements of this part, 
including any license requirements contained in this part, to any 
facility (not including any dam or other impoundment) constructed, 
operated, or maintained for the generation of electric power which the 
Commission determines, by rule or order--
        ``(1) utilizes for such generation only the hydroelectric 
    potential of a conduit; and
        ``(2) has an installed capacity that does not exceed 40 
    megawatts.'';
        (2) in subsection (c), by striking ``subsection (a)'' and 
    inserting ``subsection (b)''; and
        (3) in subsection (d), by striking ``subsection (a)'' and 
    inserting ``subsection (b)''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Subsection (d) of section 405 of the 
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2705), as 
amended, is further amended by striking ``subsection (a) of such 
section 30'' and inserting ``subsection (b) of such section 30''.
SEC. 5. FERC AUTHORITY TO EXTEND PRELIMINARY PERMIT PERIODS.
    Section 5 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 798) is amended--
        (1) by designating the first, second, and third sentences as 
    subsections (a), (c), and (d), respectively; and
        (2) by inserting after subsection (a) (as so designated) the 
    following:
    ``(b) The Commission may extend the period of a preliminary permit 
once for not more than 2 additional years beyond the 3 years permitted 
by subsection (a) if the Commission finds that the permittee has 
carried out activities under such permit in good faith and with 
reasonable diligence.''.
SEC. 6. PROMOTING HYDROPOWER DEVELOPMENT AT NONPOWERED DAMS AND CLOSED 
LOOP PUMPED STORAGE PROJECTS.
    (a) In General.--To improve the regulatory process and reduce 
delays and costs for hydropower development at nonpowered dams and 
closed loop pumped storage projects, the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission (referred to in this section as the ``Commission'') shall 
investigate the feasibility of the issuance of a license for hydropower 
development at nonpowered dams and closed loop pumped storage projects 
in a 2-year period (referred to in this section as a ``2-year 
process''). Such a 2-year process shall include any prefiling licensing 
process of the Commission.
    (b) Workshops and Pilots.--The Commission shall--
        (1) not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this 
    Act, hold an initial workshop to solicit public comment and 
    recommendations on how to implement a 2-year process;
        (2) develop criteria for identifying projects featuring 
    hydropower development at nonpowered dams and closed loop pumped 
    storage projects that may be appropriate for licensing within a 2-
    year process;
        (3) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
    Act, develop and implement pilot projects to test a 2-year process, 
    if practicable; and
        (4) not later than 3 years after the date of implementation of 
    the final pilot project testing a 2-year process, hold a final 
    workshop to solicit public comment on the effectiveness of each 
    tested 2-year process.
    (c) Memorandum of Understanding.--The Commission shall, to the 
extent practicable, enter into a memorandum of understanding with any 
applicable Federal or State agency to implement a pilot project 
described in subsection (b).
    (d) Reports.--
        (1) Pilot projects not implemented.--If the Commission 
    determines that no pilot project described in subsection (b) is 
    practicable because no 2-year process is practicable, not later 
    than 240 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
    Commission shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 
    the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and 
    Natural Resources of the Senate a report that--
            (A) describes the public comments received as part of the 
        initial workshop held under subsection (b)(1); and
            (B) identifies the process, legal, environmental, economic, 
        and other issues that justify the determination of the 
        Commission that no 2-year process is practicable, with 
        recommendations on how Congress may address or remedy the 
        identified issues.
        (2) Pilot projects implemented.--If the Commission develops and 
    implements pilot projects involving a 2-year process, not later 
    than 60 days after the date of completion of the final workshop 
    held under subsection (b)(4), the Commission shall submit to the 
    Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 
    and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a 
    report that--
            (A) describes the outcomes of the pilot projects;
            (B) describes the public comments from the final workshop 
        on the effectiveness of each tested 2-year process; and
            (C)(i) outlines how the Commission will adopt policies 
        under existing law (including regulations) that result in a 2-
        year process for appropriate projects;
            (ii) outlines how the Commission will issue new regulations 
        to adopt a 2-year process for appropriate projects; or
            (iii) identifies the process, legal, environmental, 
        economic, and other issues that justify a determination of the 
        Commission that no 2-year process is practicable, with 
        recommendations on how Congress may address or remedy the 
        identified issues.
SEC. 7. DOE STUDY OF PUMPED STORAGE AND POTENTIAL HYDROPOWER FROM 
CONDUITS.
    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Energy shall conduct a study--
        (1)(A) of the technical flexibility that existing pumped 
    storage facilities can provide to support intermittent renewable 
    electric energy generation, including the potential for such 
    existing facilities to be upgraded or retrofitted with advanced 
    commercially available technology; and
        (B) of the technical potential of existing pumped storage 
    facilities and new advanced pumped storage facilities, to provide 
    grid reliability benefits; and
        (2)(A) to identify the range of opportunities for hydropower 
    that may be obtained from conduits (as defined by the Secretary) in 
    the United States; and
        (B) through case studies, to assess amounts of potential energy 
    generation from such conduit hydropower projects.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall submit to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report that describes 
the results of the study conducted under subsection (a), including any 
recommendations.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.