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.

This bill would require the Secretary of the Army to issue guidance within one year on how the Army Corps of Engineers reviews applications to alter or use Corps projects in connection with non-federal hydropower projects (known as section 408 applications). The guidance must include a standard checklist of required materials, a description of what makes an application complete, timelines and scope for each phase of design review, and procedures for sending an application to higher Corps officials when a deadline is missed. The bill limits the initial completeness review to checking that required documents were submitted in the correct format and address the checklist. During that review, the Corps could not do detailed technical or design evaluation, request design changes, consider factors outside the checklist, or require compliance with environmental standards set after the application was submitted.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Maggie Goodlander Democrat sponsor
• 1 cosponsors