Grace Napolitano: “I thank Congressman Bishop, Congressman Sablan, but especially Congressman Hastings and our staff for working on this…”

“I thank Congressman Bishop, Congressman Sablan, but especially Congressman Hastings and our staff for working on this bill. I rise in support of H.R. 470, the Hoover Power Allocation Act of 2011, as amended. And I agree with my colleague, I agree with his remarks. Hydropower is a very valuable resource for our country. The power produced at Hoover provides a renewable, very affordable and accessible resource to the American Southwest, more specifically the States of California, my State, Nevada, and Arizona, and has 30 million residents, businesses, farms, and tribes that benefit from its renewable power. A new provision in the legislation, which my colleague talked about, would create an additional Schedule D, where power will be made available to eligible tribes and other users. And I'm hoping that those eligible users are mostly tribes because they've been kept out of the loop for many generations, and I think it's time that we put them up in the priority status, rather than at the end of the line as normally happens. Western Area Power Administration has committed to implementing a full and transparent process in the allocation of this valuable resource. And we do expect that the State regulatory agencies of Arizona and Nevada both will follow the same procedures and commitment to an impartial and unbiased allocation determination.…”