Sponsors (2)
Official title: Amend the Federal Power Act to require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to annually submit to Congress a report on the status of ongoing hydropower relicensing applications.
Introduced December 16, 2025 by Catherine Marie Cortez Masto · Last progress December 16, 2025
The bill increases transparency and provides better data for applicants and policymakers to plan and diagnose delays in hydropower licensing, but it raises administrative costs and risks exposing sensitive commercial information while offering no guaranteed fixes for identified delays.
Applicants (utilities, States, Tribes, municipalities) and the public will get a clear timeline and public status for pending hydropower licenses, improving transparency around where applications stand.
Prospective applicants (States, Tribes, and municipalities) will have better information to plan investments or projects when original licenses under section 4(e) are delayed, reducing planning uncertainty.
Disaggregated reporting by license type gives policymakers and taxpayers better data to identify systemic delays in new/subsequent versus original licenses and target reforms where needed.
The new reporting requirement increases Commission workload and administrative costs, which may lead to higher spending funded by utilities or federal appropriations (affecting taxpayers and utility costs).
Public disclosure of detailed licensing steps could reveal commercially sensitive scheduling or project strategies, harming applicants' competitive positions.
If reports simply highlight delays without creating remedies, applicants and local governments may still face prolonged uncertainty despite increased transparency.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Mandates the Federal Power Commission to report to Congress within 180 days and annually on the status of specified delayed hydropower licensing proceedings, including docket- and schedule-level details.
Requires the Federal Power Commission to produce a detailed status report on certain hydropower licensing proceedings. The agency must deliver the first report within 180 days of enactment and then provide an annual update showing dates, docket numbers, application status, upcoming proceedings, and required actions for delayed new, subsequent, or original licenses identified in the Federal Power Act.