WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Vice Chairman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after participating in an oversight hearing for the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans where he questioned Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) Commissioner, Estevan López, on the agency’s lack of development and installation of new, small hydropower projects:
Today, Vice Chairman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after participating in an oversight hearing for the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans where he questioned Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) Commissioner, Estevan López, on the agency’s lack of development and installation of new, small hydropower projects:
“I’m discouraged by the lack of progress that was made by the previous BOR Commissioner to fully implement the Tipton-Gosar Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act, H.R.678. Recently, several industry experts informed me that BOR has only facilitated 4-5 small hydropower projects in the entire country since this bill was passed. Meanwhile, these same experts tell me that the FERC has been aggressively pursuing Small/Low-Impact Hydropower Projects since enactment of the bill. In fact, FERC indicates on its website that they have issued 25 licenses and 93 preliminary permits since the Tipton-Gosar bill became law.
“Today, I strongly advised new BOR Commissioner López to encourage new, small-scale hydropower generation with a similar amount of vigor. Fully implementing H.R. 678 will create jobs and expand the use of this renewable, emissions-free source of energy that provides low-cost electricity.”
Background
The video of Congressman Gosar questioning BOR Commissioner López can be found HERE.
The text of Vice Chairman Gosar’s opening statement can be found HERE.
H.R. 678 was signed into public law on August 9, 2013. A previous statement Rep. Gosar gave on the floor when the bill passed the House can be found HERE.
