A bill to require the Secretary of the Army to issue guidance relating to the review of applications for alteration or temporary or permanent occupation or use of certain hydropower projects, and for other purposes.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4992 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4992

To require the Secretary of the Army to issue guidance relating to the
    review of applications for alteration or temporary or permanent
    occupation or use of certain hydropower projects, and for other
                               purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 15, 2026

Mr. Daines (for himself and Ms. Hassan) introduced the following bill;
 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and
                              Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To require the Secretary of the Army to issue guidance relating to the
    review of applications for alteration or temporary or permanent
    occupation or use of certain hydropower projects, and for other
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. STANDARDIZED REVIEW PROCEDURES FOR HYDROPOWER PROJECTS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Completeness review.--The term ``completeness review''
        means a review by the Secretary (or a designee) regarding
        whether a section 408 application is complete.
            (2) Hydropower project.--The term ``hydropower project''
        means any non-Federal hydropower project requiring a license or
        exemption under the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 791a et seq.).
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
        of the Army.
            (4) Section 408 application.--The term ``section 408
        application'' means an application relating to a hydropower
        project for permission under section 14 of the Act of March 3,
        1899 (30 Stat. 1152, chapter 425; 33 U.S.C. 408), for an
        alteration, or temporary or permanent occupation or use,
        described in subsection (a) of that section.
    (b) Standardized Review Procedures.--
            (1) Mandatory guidance.--Not later than 1 year after the
        date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue
        guidance establishing the following:
                    (A) Application checklist.--A standardized
                checklist of required materials for section 408
                applications, to be developed in consultation with--
                            (i) the Federal Energy Regulatory
                        Commission;
                            (ii) the Hydroelectric Design Center of the
                        Corps of Engineers;
                            (iii) hydropower project operators; and
                            (iv) relevant industry associations.
                    (B) Completeness criteria.--A clear description of
                what constitutes a complete section 408 application,
                including with respect to--
                            (i) required documents and analyses;
                            (ii) formatting and submission
                        requirements; and
                            (iii) evidence of compliance with any
                        applicable Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
                        license.
                    (C) Phased review procedures.--For section 408
                applications for which a phased design review is
                required--
                            (i) the specific scope and objectives of
                        each review phase;
                            (ii) a timeline for each review phase;
                            (iii) an applicable definition of the terms
                        ``fatal flaw'', ``final quality assurance'',
                        and ``technical review''; and
                            (iv) a clear statement that a completeness
                        review shall not include--
                                    (I) detailed technical analysis; or
                                    (II) any engineering-related
                                judgment with respect to design
                                adequacy.
                    (D) Escalation procedures.--Procedures for
                referring a section 408 application to the head of the
                applicable Division Office of the Corps of Engineers or
                an official at the Corps of Engineers headquarters in
                any case in which a deadline applicable to the section
                408 application is not met.
            (2) Scope of completeness reviews.--The guidance issued
        under paragraph (1) shall establish that a completeness review
        shall be limited to verification that--
                    (A) all required documents have been submitted;
                    (B) those documents are in the required format; and
                    (C) the section 408 application addresses the
                applicable requirements of the checklist under
                paragraph (1)(A).
            (3) Prohibitions.--In conducting a completeness review, the
        Secretary (or a designee) may not--
                    (A) conduct a detailed technical review of any
                engineering calculations;
                    (B) evaluate the design adequacy of, or alternative
                approaches to, the hydropower project that is the
                subject of the section 408 application;
                    (C) request any design modification to, or
                additional analysis of, the hydropower project that is
                the subject of the section 408 application;
                    (D) consider any factor other than a factor
                included in the standardized checklist under paragraph
                (1)(A); or
                    (E) require compliance with any environmental
                standard that was not established by a Federal or
                relevant State agency before the date of submission of
                the section 408 application.
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