POWER Act Sets Strict Limits on Federal Dam Removal and Hydropower Retirement Based on Costs and Grid Stability

The Protecting Our Water Energy Resources (POWER) Act proposes new, strict conditions that would prevent the federal government from breaching dams or retiring hydropower facilities. The bill aims to safeguard specific economic and energy reliability metrics by setting clear numerical thresholds that must be met before such actions can be taken.

Locking Down the Dams

Under Section 2, the Secretary of the Army would be prohibited from breaching any federally operated dam if doing so is projected to cause certain negative impacts. These triggers include: increasing carbon emissions by more than 5%, negatively affecting commercial navigation, raising the price of goods shipped on that waterway by 5% or more, or if the replacement energy source requires at least 5% more land than the dam currently occupies. Before considering a breach, the Secretary must consult with various federal and state agencies (including Energy, Transportation, Agriculture, and Commerce) and conduct a study on the land occupied by the dam. In practice, this means projects aimed at environmental restoration, like improving fish passage by removing a dam, could be blocked if they're predicted to slightly increase shipping costs or require a marginally larger footprint for replacement energy.

Keeping the Turbines Turning

Section 3 focuses on preventing the retirement of existing hydropower generation at federal dams. Retirement would be forbidden if it's expected to increase customer electricity rates by more than 5% or decrease energy reliability by more than 5% compared to the previous year in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and California. The bill defines an "energy generation source" specifically as a federally operated hydropower dam and defines "baseload generation" as the minimum power needed for the grid. Curiously, it also mandates that if a source is retired, 100% of its baseload generation must be replaced within 30 days, though the prohibitions make retirement difficult. This provision effectively prioritizes maintaining current hydropower output and stable electricity prices in the specified states, potentially hindering transitions to other energy sources if those transitions involve retiring hydropower and cause even minor fluctuations in cost or reliability.

The Bottom Line: Balancing Costs, Power, and Planning

The POWER Act draws clear lines in the sand using 5% thresholds for various economic and energy factors. It essentially creates significant hurdles for altering the status quo of federal dams and hydropower, particularly in the Western U.S. While the goal appears to be ensuring stable energy supply and preventing economic disruption related to shipping and electricity costs, these restrictions could also limit flexibility in managing water resources, pursuing environmental restoration projects, or transitioning the energy grid. Accurately predicting whether these 5% thresholds will be breached presents a practical challenge, potentially leading to delays or disputes over dam management decisions.