A synthesis of environmental and recreational mitigation requirements at hydropower projects in the United States

Schramm, Michael P.; Bevelhimer, Mark S.; DeRolph, Chris R.

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2016.03.019

Title: A synthesis of environmental and recreational mitigation requirements at hydropower projects in the United States

Journal Article · Mon Apr 11 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Environmental Science and Policy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.03.019· OSTI ID:1324045

Schramm, Michael P. ^[1]; Bevelhimer, Mark S. ^[1]; DeRolph, Chris R. ^[1]

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Environmental Sciences Division

Environmental mitigation plays an important role in the environmentally sustainable development of hydropower resources. However, comprehensive data on mitigation required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) at United States (US) hydropower projects is lacking. Therefore, our objective was to create a comprehensive database of mitigation required at non-federal hydropower projects and provide a synthesis of available mitigation data. Mitigation data was collated for over 300 plants licensed or relicensed from 1998 through 2013. We observed that the majority of FERC mitigation requirements deal with either hydrologic flows or recreation and that hydropower plants in the Pacific Northwest had the highest number of requirements. Our data indicate opportunities exist to further explore hydropower mitigation in the areas of environmental flows, fish passage, and water quality. Lastly, connecting these data with ecological outcomes, actual flow data, and larger landscape level information will be necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation and ultimately inform regulators, managers, and planners.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1324045

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1325308

Journal Information:: Environmental Science and Policy, Vol. 61, Issue C; ISSN 1462-9011

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 24 works

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Cited By (2)

Integrating Economic and Ecological Benchmarking for a Sustainable Development of Hydropower Hirsch, Philipp; Schillinger, Moritz; Appoloni, Katharina Sustainability, Vol. 8, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.3390/su8090875	journal	August 2016
Integrating Economic and Ecological Benchmarking for a Sustainable Development of Hydropower Hirsch, Philipp Emanuel; Schillinger, Moritz; Appoloni, Katharina Mary Ann Liebert https://doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep52474	text	January 2016

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13 HYDRO ENERGY
environmental mitigation
FERC
hydropower
hydropower policy
environmental flows

Title: A synthesis of environmental and recreational mitigation requirements at hydropower projects in the United States

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