# What the Pacific Northwest Pumped Storage Hydropower Development Act Does

This bill opens the door for a specific type of energy project in the Pacific Northwest by allowing the federal government to lease water from multiple Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs (federally managed water storage systems) to generate electricity through pumped storage hydropower. Think of pumped storage like a giant battery: water gets pumped uphill to a higher reservoir when electricity demand is low, then released downhill through turbines to generate power when demand is high.

The bill specifically targets a project that was already in the preliminary permit stage as of June 2017, which means it's not creating a brand new possibility but rather clearing a path for a project that's been in development. The key innovation here is allowing a single hydropower project to use multiple federal reservoirs instead of just one, which wasn't clearly allowed under previous law. To make this happen, the bill gives the Interior Department authority to issue leases for this type of pumped storage development using Bureau of Reclamation facilities.

However, the bill includes significant protections for two Native American tribes—the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Spokane Tribe of Indians. Before any lease can be issued, the project developer must reach an agreement with these tribes about what studies need to be conducted. These studies must examine how the project could harm the tribes economically, particularly by affecting their annual payments from the Grand Coulee Dam and their hunting, fishing, and boating rights. If the developer and tribes can't agree on study requirements, a federal hearing officer decides what studies are mandatory. Once the project is approved, the developer must make direct annual payments to the tribes to compensate them for any economic damage the project causes. This ensures the tribes have a real voice in whether the project moves forward and what protections it must include.

Pacific Northwest Pumped Storage Hydropower Development Act of 2021

Newhouse, Dan

Pacific Northwest Pumped Storage Hydropower Development Act of 2021 This bill provides the Department of the Interior exclusive authority to develop hydropower facilities in certain instances and contains other related provisions. Specifically, Interior shall have exclusive authority to develop small conduit hydropower using Bureau of Reclamation facilities and pumped storage hydropower that exclusively use bureau reservoirs. Currently, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) also has regulatory authority over some of the bureau infrastructure involved in such projects, so some projects require approval from both Interior and FERC. The bill also imposes various requirements related to certain proposed projects involving specified tribes in Washington State. Before Interior may issue a lease to use power generated from such a project, the parties involved must agree to a study plan that lays out certain information, time lines, and procedures for addressing issues. Such a lease must also meet certain requirements, such as conditions to ensure that the project will not interfere with the tribes' hunting and fishing rights.