Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2872, the Promoting Hydropower Development at Existing Nonpowered Dams Act. Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague from the Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. Bucshon from Indiana, for sponsoring this bipartisan piece of legislation. I would also like to acknowledge the committee staffs from both the majority and minority sides for working together in good faith to develop a bill that resolved the differences between the two sides as we proceeded through the committee process in order to get the bill onto the floor here today. Mr. Speaker, I am a huge proponent of hydropower as a safe, reliable, carbon-free way of providing energy to millions of Americans, especially when the licensing process is conducted in a reasonable and transparent manner that takes into account environmental safeguards as well as the rights and interests of the affected local communities. Mr. Speaker, I believe that H.R. 2872 encompasses all of these objections. H.R. 2872 would allow FERC, in consultation with Federal and State resource agencies, as well as Native American Tribes, to establish an expedited licensing process for installing hydropower generation at existing dams that don't produce electricity by exempting these projects from regulation under the Federal Power Act. Mr.…”