Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2842, the Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act of 2012, with a bipartisan vote of 265-154. Sponsored by Rep. Scott Tipton (CO-03), H.R. 2842 is an action plan to create new American jobs and eliminate bureaucratic hurdles to small hydropower production.

Specifically, the bill authorizes hydropower development on existing, man-made Bureau of Reclamation water canals and pipes, cuts government red-tape by streamlining a duplicative regulatory process and reduces administrative costs for developing these green energy projects. Such man-made facilities are already on disturbed ground, have no environmental impact and have already gone through environmental review.

“Republicans support an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy approach and this plan takes us one step closer to achieving that goal by making it easier to produce clean, renewable, low-cost hydropower,” said Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04). “American families and small businesses are struggling with the high costs of energy – whether at home, at work or when filling up at the pump. This bill continues the work of House Republicans to remove government obstacles that block development of our American energy resources – including renewable sources such as hydropower. Responsibly developing these resources will help address rising energy costs, while also creating good-paying jobs and improving our energy security.”

“Today the House acted in a bipartisan effort to put a key element of the all-of-the-above energy plan into place by passing my Hydropower and Rural Jobs Act. This bill makes significant strides in encouraging the development of clean, renewable hydropower and getting people back to work in some of America’s hardest hit rural communities,” said Rep. Tipton. “I urge my Senate colleagues to take up this common sense bill and join the House in advancing the development of abundant and environmentally responsible hydropower, generating affordable power, and creating much needed American jobs.”

“This is one of the most simple and sensible bills on energy development that we have yet heard,” said Water and Power Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (CA-04). “What this bill promises, at no cost to taxpayers, is the freeing up of absolutely clean electricity on a scale so vast that it would take several hydroelectric dams to duplicate. Simply by getting government bureaucracies out of the way, this bill has the potential of adding thousands of mega watts of clean and renewable electricity to the nation’s energy supply.”

“The passage of today’s bill, which will allow energy producers to develop hydropower on existing, man-made pipelines and canals, will spur job creation in rural Arizona and increase U.S. energy independence,” said Rep. Paul A. Gosar (AZ-01). “The rural counties I represent are faced with unemployment rates that far exceed the national average. This bill provides a little of the much needed relief for those communities.”

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