The anatomy of hydropower relicensing

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Proceedings of the American Power Conference; (United States)

OSTI ID:6020555

Mosley, L W; Timpe, D C ^[1]

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1. Black and Veatch Consulting Engineers, Kansas City, MO (United States)

Over 2,000 hydroelectric projects are currently in operation in the United States. Approximately 1,500 of these are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with the remainder categorized as either unregulated or owned by the federal government. Of the hydroelectric projects which fall under FERC jurisdiction, licenses for 250 of them are up for renewal between 1991 and 2000. In many cases, the relicensing process has resulted in the expenditure of resources with little apparent payback. Consequently, the ECPA epitaph may reveal that it led to a reduced availability of hydroelectric power-considered to be a relatively clean, environmentally benign source of energy-and, as an added consequence, an increased reliance on fossil fuel-an energy source with its own form of environmental consequences. Unfortunately, it is the American public, the constituency that the ECPA was intended to protect, that will ultimately pay the environmental and financial costs of relicensing. The examples cited in this paper describe cases in which the effectiveness of the ECPA is questionable.

• OSTI ID: 6020555
• Report Number(s): CONF-9104106--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Proceedings of the American Power Conference; (United States) Journal Volume: 53
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

13 HYDRO ENERGY
130400 -- Hydro Energy-- Legislation & Regulations
130500* -- Hydro Energy-- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects
COMPETITION
CONSUMER PROTECTION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANTS
INDUSTRY
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
LEGAL ASPECTS
LICENSING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
POLITICAL ASPECTS
POWER PLANTS
PUBLIC UTILITIES
REGULATIONS
US DOE
US FERC
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA