{"id":57897,"date":"2013-08-13T21:11:23","date_gmt":"2013-08-14T03:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/obama-signs-tiptons-hydro-bill\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T16:05:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T16:05:28","slug":"obama-signs-tiptons-hydro-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/obama-signs-tiptons-hydro-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama signs Tipton’s hydro bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Towaoc-Highline canal makes it way to Ute Mountain Ute farmland. A point of high water pressure on the aqueduct is being considered for a small hydro-power plant.<\/span>Journal Photo\/Jim Mimiaga<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A bill sponsored by Congressmen Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) that streamlines the process for authorizing small hydropower plants passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Obama on Friday.<\/p>\n

House Resolution 678, \u201cThe Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act,\u201d amends current law by removing bureaucratic red tape and redundant environmental reviews for small hydro projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am honored that I was able to lead the charge for this common-sense effort that received broad bipartisan support at the local and national level,\u201d Tipton said in a Monday press release. \u201cHydropower is the cheapest and cleanest source of electricity available through modern technology, and a key component of the all-of-the-above energy platform that I continue to strongly support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill is specific to hydro-power plants perceived for canals and infrastructure on current Bureau of Reclamation operations, such as the Dolores Project. Currently, projects are delayed and are costly due to lengthy reviews required under National Environmental Policy Act.<\/p>\n

HR 678 allows small hydro projects on Bureau systems to qualify for a \u201ccategorical exclusion\u201d provision under NEPA, thereby reducing costs and delays of an environmental assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt codifies the categorical exclusion under the Bureau, because in the case of these hydro projects, the canals where they would be built on have already gone through an EA,\u201d said Josh Green, a press secretary for Tipton\u2019s Washington D.C. office. \u201cIt makes no sense to go through the whole process again.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are 28 potential sites for small hydropower plants on BOR systems in Colorado and 373 nationwide.<\/p>\n

Mike Preston, general manager for the Dolores Water Conservancy District, said the bill is a welcome change for the district, which has sites potentially suitable for small hydropower plants on its canals.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall hydropower on the Dolores Project is an opportunity to produce and sell clean energy that does not affect water supply,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are seven or eight elevation drops on our canals where there is an opportunity for hydropower, and so now we will be able to better pursue those plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most likely site for a new hydropower plan is on the Towaoc-Highline canal, and the project that is being negotiated with the Ute Mountain Ute tribe.<\/p>\n

The T-H canal delivers irrigation water to farms on the Ute Mountain Reservation. At one point, a gravity-fed water pipe supplying canal the enters a massive energy-dissipation structure, or pressure reducer, to avoid causing damage to concrete canals, equipment and pump stations.<\/p>\n

Instead of dissipating the energy, DWCD and the tribe hope to work out an agreement with the tribe to build a power plant and share the profits of selling the energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good site,\u201d Preston said. \u201cYou can feel the ground constantly rumbling where the de-pressurizing is going on. It is a good venture for both parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Costs for the hydro unit would be in the $5 million range, and the District\u2019s share would be financed if the project goes forward, Preston said.<\/p>\n

The bill also makes the Bureau\u2019s Power Resources Office the lead agency for small conduit hydropower activities on its property, taking it out of the permitting realm of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.<\/p>\n

It also gives irrigation and districts with Bureau-built canals right of first refusal for hydropower privilege leases, which anyone can file on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is commendable that Congressman Tipton was able to get something done in Congress,\u201d Preston said. \u201cThis bill streamlines the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislation was endorsed by the Family Farm Alliance, the National Water Resources Association, the Colorado River District, and the American Public Power Association, among others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were no real objections, and it had bipartisan support. In the Senate, the vote was unanimous,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n

The Congressional Budget Office has reported that HR 678 has no cost to taxpayers, and returns revenues to the treasury.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy signing this bill into law, we have made headway in the effort to establish American energy independence and putting people back to work,\u201d Tipton said.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Measure unravels red tape for green energy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[981,490,13,23],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-57897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-electricity-production-and-distribution","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-u-s-rep-scott-tipton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57897"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62894,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57897\/revisions\/62894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57897"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=57897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}