POWER Act

The POWER Act would restrict efforts to breach federally operated dams and tighten rules around retiring hydropower generation. Specifically, it prohibits breaching a federal dam if doing so would raise carbon emissions by more than 5%, reduce navigability of the waterway for commercial traffic, or raise the price of products shipped on that waterway by 5% or more; it also prohibits breaching if replacing the dam’s energy with another resource would require land area at least 5% larger than the dam itself. The bill requires cross-agency and state consultations and a land-area study if breaching is even considered. Separately, the act would block retirement of federally operated hydropower unless it would not increase electricity prices by more than 5% and would not reduce regional (Bonneville Power Administration) energy reliability by more than 5%. If a dam’s baseload generation is retired, the bill requires immediate replacement of that baseload capacity (within 30 days) to restore 100% of the retired generation. It also provides definitions clarifying what counts as baseload generation and which federal entities are responsible for dams.