Angie Craig: “we just took a very critical and, I believe, important vote in the Senate pertaining to the Nelson-Craig amendment, and…”

“we just took a very critical and, I believe, important vote in the Senate pertaining to the Nelson-Craig amendment, and now second-degreed by the Senator from Oregon. While I know the Senator from New Mexico and I have worked long and hard on the issue of hydro relicensing, I think the will of the Senate has spoken as it relates to moving this issue to the forefront and making a legislative determination on what the public policy ought to be as it relates to the relicensing of hydro facilities around this country. We have now for well over a decade and a half spent a great deal of time looking at the hydro relicensing process. Many of the licensees have spent millions and millions of dollars trying to shape it and determine it. Study after study--and here are about 7 of them, some 1,400 pages of studies over the last decade--have said there is a problem that can only be determined by a legislative fix. That is exactly what the Nelson-Craig amendment, now second-degreed by the Senator from Oregon, does. It maintains the amendment, and the second degree maintains the current standard in section 4(e). The Secretary of the Interior can determine whether an alternative condition offered by the licensee ensures the adequate protection and utilization of the ``Federal reservation.'' ``Federal reservation'' is a term of art in the Federal licensing of projects as it relates to protecting the resources, protecting the land.…”