[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1338 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1338

  To amend the Federal Power Act to provide licensing procedures for 
                       certain types of projects.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 14, 2015

   Mr. King introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Federal Power Act to provide licensing procedures for 
                       certain types of projects.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Small Hydropower Dependable 
Regulatory Order Act of 2015'' or the ``Small HyDRO Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. LICENSING PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF PROJECTS.

    Part I of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 792 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 34. LICENSING PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF PROJECTS.

    ``(a) Definition of Covered Project.--In this section, the term 
`covered project' means a project--
            ``(1) that does not alter the existing flowrate of the body 
        of water the project is on; and
            ``(2)(A) that has a power production capacity that is not 
        more than 5 megawatts; or
            ``(B) to power a nonpowered dam.
    ``(b) Special Category of License.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of this part, a license with respect to a covered project 
shall only be issued in accordance with this section.
    ``(c) Application.--An applicant for a license for a covered 
project under this section shall submit to the Commission an 
application for a license in such form and manner and requiring such 
information as the Commission may require.
    ``(d) Rebuttable Presumption.--In deciding whether to issue any 
license for a covered project under this section, there shall be a 
rebuttable presumption that the license be issued.
    ``(e) Environmental Compliance.--For purposes of issuing a license 
under this section, if there is a conflict between any environmental 
analysis prepared by the Commission under the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with respect to the covered 
project and any environmental analysis prepared by any other Federal or 
State agency under that Act, the Commission shall resolve the 
differences.
    ``(f) Term of License.--The term of a license for a covered project 
issued under this section shall be 10 years.
    ``(g) Deadline for Issuance.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date on which the Commission receives an application for a license for 
a covered project under subsection (c), the Commission shall--
            ``(1) approve the license and issue the license; or
            ``(2) disapprove the license.''.
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