United States HR 626: Northwest Energy Security Act

Bill Text

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119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 626
To provide for operations of the Federal Columbia River Power System
pursuant to a certain operation plan for a specified period of time,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 22, 2025
Mr. NEWHOUSE (for himself, Mr. BAUMGARTNER, Mr. FULCHER, and Mr.
BENTZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Trans-
portation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To provide for operations of the Federal Columbia River
Power System pursuant to a certain operation plan for
a specified period of time, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
The Act may be cited as the ‘‘Northwest Energy Se-4
curity Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) FCRPS.—The term ‘‘FCRPS’’ means those 1
portions of the Federal Columbia River Power Sys-2
tem that are the subject of the Supplemental Opin-3
ion. 4
(2) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 5
means— 6
(A) the Secretary of the Interior, acting 7
through the Commissioner of Reclamation; 8
(B) the Secretary of Energy, acting 9
through the Administrator of the Bonneville 10
Power Administration; and 11
(C) the Secretary of the Army, acting 12
through the Chief of Engineers. 13
(3) SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION.—The term ‘‘Sup-14
plemental Opinion’’ means the document entitled 15
‘‘Columbia River System Operations Environmental 16
Impact Statement Record of Decision’’ and dated 17
September 2020. 18
SEC. 3. OPERATION OF FCRPS. 19
The Secretaries shall operate the FCRPS in a man-20
ner consistent with the reasonable and prudent alternative 21
described in the Supplemental Opinion. 22
SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION. 23
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 3, the 24
Secretaries may amend portions of the Supplemental 25
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Opinion and operate the FCRPS in accordance with those 1
amendments if all of the Secretaries determine, in the sole 2
discretion of each Secretary, that— 3
(1) the amendment is necessary for public safe-4
ty or transmission and grid reliability; or 5
(2) the actions, operations, or other require-6
ments that the amendment would remove are no 7
longer warranted. 8
(b) RESTRICTION ON AMENDMENTS.—The process 9
described in subsection (a) shall be the only method by 10
which the Secretaries may operate the FCRPS in any way 11
that is not consistent with the reasonable and prudent al-12
ternative set forth in the Supplemental Opinion. 13
SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON RESTRICTING FCRPS ELECTRICAL 14
GENERATION; CLARIFICATION. 15
(a) RESTRICTING FCRPS ELECTRICAL GENERA-16
TION.—No structural modification, action, study, or engi-17
neering plan that restricts electrical generation at any 18
FCRPS hydroelectric dam, or that limits navigation on 19
the Snake River in the State of Washington, Oregon, or 20
Idaho, shall proceed unless such proposal is specifically 21
and expressly authorized by a Federal statute enacted 22
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 23
(b) CLARIFICATION.—Nothing in this section affects 24
or interferes with the authority of the Secretaries to con-25
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duct operation and maintenance activities or make capital 1
improvements necessary to meet authorized project pur-2
poses of FCRPS facilities. 3
Æ
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