Hydropower Licensing Research Articles

Reliability and resilience of environmental flows under uncertainty: reconsidering water year types and inconsistent flow requirements in California

Abstract Environmental water allocation in California is a complex legal process involving various government agencies and stakeholders. E-flow requirements can be based on annual runoff typologies called water year types (WYTs), which dictate water volume, timing, and duration. In this study, we examined hydropower licensing documents of the major water and power projects in the Central Sierra Nevada to catalog e-flow requirements by WYT. In this study case, we identify how WYT classification systems and categories vary across and within different basins. Additionally, we assessed the impacts of climate change on hydrology, the frequency of WYTs identified, and the reliability and resilience of e-flows using future projections (2031–2060) of 10 Global Circulation Models (GCMs). We then propose a potential adaptation strategy using a 30 year moving percentiles approach to recalculate WYTs. We identified eight WYT classifications systems were identified, and their WYT distributions statistically significantly changes across all GCMs, even though most GCMs indicate no statistically significant change in hydrology. Disparities in future impacts are observed among and within hydropower projects, with some river reaches showing negative impacts on reliability and resilience. The adaptation strategy can generally boost resilience and improve reliability, but simply updating existing WYT thresholds without flexible regulatory frameworks reconsidering WYTs and e-flows thresholds, may not yield substantial improvements. Challenges in managing e-flows in California within regulatory and hydroclimatic contexts are intricate due to the lack of standardized approaches, leading to inconsistencies and potential conflicts among stakeholders, that will likely be exacerbated by climate change. Thus, we emphasize that targeted, site-specific, and adaptive management strategies are crucial, besides the need for a harmonized and consistent approach to defining and applying WYT categories and methods and/or e-flow assessments.

Influence of project characteristics, regulatory pathways, and environmental complexity on hydropower licensing timelines in the US

In the U.S., hydropower is expected to play an important role in supporting a zero-carbon energy transition so it's becoming increasingly important the hydropower regulatory process provides robust environmental and other protections while maintaining regulatory efficiency. In this study, we created a dataset of project and license characteristics and milestones using hydropower licensing documents from 107 randomly selected projects to 1) quantify the length of steps in the licensing timeline and 2) quantitatively identify factors associated with licensing timeline length and sources of uncertainty. We found original licenses had shorter average timelines than relicenses and project capacity was only related to timeline length when license type (i.e., original, relicense) was included in analyses. Both licensing timeline length and variability were impacted by the licensing process (Alternative, Integrated, Traditional) used. Projects with greater environmental complexity (e.g., endangered species) had significantly longer timelines than projects that were less environmentally complex. We attributed shorter timelines for original licenses to lower environmental complexity (e.g., no endangered species) because most original licenses involved development of already impacted sites. Projects with greater environmental complexity significantly impact resources that may require greater stakeholder involvement and increased study that can lead to longer licensing timelines.

Understanding the Environmental Study Life Cycle in the United States Hydropower Licensing and Federal Authorization Process

We analyzed United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) documents prepared for 29 recently licensed hydropower projects and created two novel datasets to improve understanding of the environmental study life cycle, defined here as the process that begins with an environmental study being requested by a hydropower stakeholder or regulator, and ends with the study either being rejected or approved/conducted. Our two datasets consisted of summaries of information taken from (1), study determination letters prepared by FERC for 23 projects that were using the integrated licensing process, and (2), environmental study submittals and issuances tracked and attributed to seven projects using the FERC record. Our objective was to use the two resulting environmental life cycle datasets to understand which types of environmental studies are approved, rejected, and implemented during FERC licensing, and how consistently those types of studies are required across multiple hydropower projects. We matched the requested studies to a set of 61 river function indicators in eight categories and found that studies related to the category of biota and biodiversity were requested most often across all 29 projects. Within that category, studies related to river function indicators of presence, absence, detection of species and habitat/critical habitat were the most important to stakeholders, based on the relative number of studies requested. The study approval, rejection, and request rates were similar within each dataset, although the 23 projects with study determination letters had many rejected studies, whereas the dataset created from the seven projects had very few rejected studies.

Editorial: Green or red: Challenges for fish and freshwater biodiversity conservation related to hydropower

Editorial: Green or red: Challenges for fish and freshwater biodiversity conservation related to hydropower

A Checklist of River Function Indicators for hydropower ecological assessment

Hydropower generation has advantages for societies that seek low-carbon, renewable energy alternatives, but sustainable hydropower production will require an explicit consideration of potential tradeoffs between socioeconomic and environmental priorities. These tradeoffs are often explored during a formal environmental impact assessment process that can be complex and controversial. The steps taken to address stakeholder concerns through impact hypotheses and field studies are not always transparent. We have created a Checklist of River Function Indicators to facilitate stakeholder discussions during hydropower licensing and to support more transparent, holistic, and scientifically informed hydropower environmental analyses. Based on a database of environmental metrics collected from hydropower project studies documented by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the International Hydropower Association, the Low Impact Hydropower Institute, and peer-reviewed scientific literature, our proposed Checklist of River Function Indicators contains 51 indicators in six categories. We have tested the usefulness of the Indicators by applying them to seven hydropower projects documented by FERC. Among the case study projects, 44 of the 51 Indicators were assessed according to the FERC documentation. Even though each hydropower project presents unique natural resource issues and stakeholder priorities, the proposed Indicators can provide a transparent starting point for stakeholder discussions about which ecological impacts should be considered in hydropower planning and relicensing assessments.

Does ecosystem valuation contribute to ecosystem decision making?: Evidence from hydropower licensing

Ecosystem valuation methods (EVM) have been developed by economists and offered as information that decision makers may find useful in making choices about ecosystem service levels. This paper examines the use of EVM by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) when licensing the operation of existing nonfederal hydropower dams. First, we report on the FERC decision to encourage the applicant to engage in a deliberative, decentralized negotiation process with a wide array of stakeholders that allows for, but does not require, EVM analysis as decision making information. Second, we report on 17 major relicensing cases where project operations that have significant impacts on aquatic restoration and recreational opportunities, and find that in no case did the participants request ecosystem valuation studies for comparison with monetary estimates of hydropower benefits. This reliance on a negotiation processes lieu of ecosystem valuation is consistent with the deliberative valuation processes supported by many ecological economists.

Troubled Water: Building a Bridge to Clean Energy Through Small Hydropower Regulatory Reform

It is beyond credible dispute that the planet is heating up at an alarming rate and that the ecological effects of global warming pose real questions about the continued viability of human and non-human life on earth in the not-too-distant future. A primary cause of global warming is the burning of carbon-based fuels to generate electricity. Clearly, more must be done, and done soon, to stave off the worst impacts of global warming. Drastically reducing global carbon emissions features prominently in any serious proposal to combat global warming. However, given that humans are extremely unlikely to willingly give up the massive recreational, economic, health, and quality-of-life benefits that come from having access to plentiful, cheap, and reliable electricity, any reductions in carbon-generated electricity will likely have to be made up for by massive increases in non-carbon-based means of generation, such as wind, solar, and hydroelectricity. Aside from nuclear power, hydropower is the most heavily regulated electricity generating source in the U.S. The current regulations governing small hydropower discourage investment and unnecessarily burden developers by requiring them to navigate a costly, complex, and time-consuming regulatory framework that may be appropriate for large dams given the environmental and ecological damage such dams can cause, but are regulatory overkill for the comparatively small impacts from a small hydro project. With low-impact small hydropower technologies offering a politically-promising approach to utilizing untapped hydropower potential in America, while also allowing fisheries to thrive and rivers to run free, this regulatory scheme is ripe for reform. The article offers targeted suggestions for reform to the federal oversight of small hydropower licensing, with a particular focus on making a regulatory distinction between low-impact and more physically-intrusive methods of hydropower generation and streamlining and expediting the approval process for low impact small hydropower projects.

Collaboration in Federal Hydropower Licensing: Impacts on Process, Outputs, and Outcomes

ABSTRACT:This study explores the outcomes of collaboration in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s hydropower licensing process. A survey gauged 270 participants’ opinions of process and outcomes. Process variables included principled engagement, shared motivation, and capacity for joint action. Dependent variables measured perceived impacts on decision-making and participants (process outcomes), the license’s perceived quality, and predicted environmental and economic changes. Linear mixed-effects models tested the influence of process variables on each outcome. Collaboration was associated with all four outcomes, but influenced process outcomes the most and predicted economic outcomes the least. Principled engagement influenced every outcome variable, shared motivation influenced process outcomes, and capacity for joint action influenced license and predicted environmental outcomes. Respondent affiliation and project size also affected perceived outcomes. Results suggest that collaboration influences a range of outputs and outcomes, but that a growing number of non–process factors mediate the relationship for outcomes further from the collaborative process.

Tracing Process to Performance of Collaborative Governance: A Comparative Case Study of Federal Hydropower Licensing

Despite collaborative governance's popularity, whether collaboration improves policy performance remains uncertain. This study assesses the link between collaborative decision making and licensed environmental management protocols in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) process for licensing hydropower facilities in the United States. Using results from a previous study of FERC relicensing (Ulibarri, forthcoming), one high‐, one medium‐, and one low‐collaboration case were selected. Using documents including meeting minutes, public comments, and issued licenses, I assessed collaboration and license outputs, then conducted process tracing to examine whether and how differences in collaboration produced differences in license quality. High collaboration resulted in jointly developed and highly implementable operating regimes designed to improve numerous resources, while low collaboration resulted in operating requirements that ignored environmental concerns raised by stakeholders and lacked implementation provisions. These results support the hypothesis that collaboration can improve environmental outcomes, revealing the pragmatic value of collaboration. [Correction added on 13 January 2015, after first online publication: the occurrences of ‘0’ in the abstract were erroneous and have now been corrected.]

America's Quest for Clean Energy: Is Hydropower Relevant?

Hydropower needs to be a full participant in the future of renewable energy. It is essential to maximize the potential of additional clean, affordable, and renewable hydropower at existing dams and in regions that present opportunities for developing small hydropower projects in an environmentally sensitive manner. This will require Congress to pursue some aggressive oversight of the hydropower licensing process and pass legislation that prioritizes the clean energy and electricity grid stabilizing benefits of hydropower.

Hydropower licensing and climate change: Insights from cooperative game theory

Cooperative game theory solutions can provide useful insights into how parties may use water and environmental resources and share any benefits of cooperation. Here, a method based on Nash and Nash–Harsanyi bargaining solutions is developed to explore the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) relicensing process, in which owners of non-federal hydropower projects in the United States have to negotiate their allowable operations, with other interest groups (mainly environmental). Linkage of games to expand the feasible solution range and the “strategic loss” concept are discussed and a FERC relicensing bargaining model is developed for studying the bargaining stage (third stage) of the relicensing process. Based on the suggested solution method, how the lack of incentive for cooperation results in long delay in FERC relicensing in practice is explained. Further, potential effects of climate change on the FERC relicensing are presented and how climate change may provide an incentive for cooperation among the parties to hasten the relicensing is discussed. An “adaptive FERC license” framework is proposed, based on cooperative game theory, to improve the performance and adaptability of the system to future changes with no cost to the FERC, in face of uncertainty about future hydrological and ecological conditions.

Balancing Environmental Protection and Energy Production in the Federal Hydropower Licensing Process

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must balance environmental protection of riverine resources with the nation’s growing demand for power production every time it issues a hydroelectric license. This paper models the bureaucratic agency’s decision-making process in issuing these licenses. Data on nearly 500 hydropower licenses issued from 1983 to 2005 are utilized. It is discovered that legislative and institutional constraints are, by far, the largest influences on FERC’s regulatory decisions, implying that if the current allocation of surface water in the United States is considered inefficient, the most effective way to alter this allocation is by passing new legislation, or by implementing institutional reform at FERC. <i>(JEL Q25, Q42)</i>

Balancing Environmental Protection and Energy Production in the Federal Hydropower Licensing Process

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must balance environmental protection of riverine resources with the nation's growing demand for power production every time it issues a new hydroelectric license. This paper models the bureaucratic agency's decision making process in issuing these licenses, in an effort to understand which factors most influence the regulatory decision. Data on nearly 500 hydropower licenses issued from 1983-2005 is utilized. It is discovered that legislative and institutional constraints are, by far, the largest influences on FERC's regulatory decisions. These results imply that if the current allocation of surface water in the United States between its competing environmental protection and energy production end uses is considered inefficient, the most effective way to alter the current allocation is by passing new legislation, or by implementing institutional reform at FERC.

Making the Case for Ecosystem Restoration by Dam Removal in the Elwha River, Washington

Abstract The decision to remove the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on the Elwha River, Washington was preceded by the collection of substantial amounts of biological and physical data. Studies were conducted to identify existing water quality within the reservoirs and river, fish populations and habitat availability, fish passage mortality through the dams and reservoirs, effects of the hydro-power projects on wildlife habitat, and economics. Although this information was generally specific to the federal hydropower licensing process, it provides valuable information on baseline, or with-project, conditions that may allow for comparisons to the post-project river.

The effects of urgency to reach agreement on the process and outcome of multi-party natural resource negotiations

We studied seven hydropower license consultations to examine the role of a sense of urgency to reach agreement. Hydropower licensing consultations were studied because the statutory requirement for consultation encourages negotiation, all such consultations are similar, and a negotiated settlement is not a foregone result. Cases selected for analysis met screening criteria. Structured interviews were conducted with participants after the negotiations had been concluded. Respondent recollections were checked against the documentary record. A sense of urgency to reach agreement was a significant factor in the completion of these negotiations; where there was no shared sense of urgency, purposeful delay adversely affected the negotiations. Although a sense of urgency was experienced by at least one party in each case, only a shared sense of urgency at the end of the process proved significant. Delay did not prevent ultimate agreement but a shared sense of urgency brought speedier agreement and greater satisfaction with the negotiation.

Energy Production and Reservoir and River Water Quality: Regulatory Framework

The regulatory framework affecting power generation is complex and in a state of flux. There are a variety of agencies and regulations affecting the permitting or licensing and operation of energy production facilities. While not intended to be exhaustive, the purpose of this forum is to review some of these major issues within the context of energy production and reservoir water quality. In the design of studies related to this topic it is necessary to first identify the studies’ goals and objectives. Often those goals are driven to some extent to address management decisions related to regulatory issues. Like all water resources development projects, there are a variety of federal and state laws, regulations, executive orders, and case law impacting energy production facilities. Some of the more relevant federal provisions follow. By some count, for example, there are over 25 federal statutes that impact some part of the hydropower licensing process ~FERC 2000b!, many of which are related to natural resource issues. Individual states’ laws and compacts between states also impact the licensing and permitting process and the operation of power generation facilities. The legal environment governing the planning, construction, operation, maintenance, and relicensing of these types of facilities have evolved over time and continue to evolve. States may vary in the manner in which laws and regulations are implemented. For example, states take various approaches to administer and enforce their own equivalent of the federal Clean Water Act ~CWA!, such as in the listing of impaired waterbodies @under Sections 305~b! and 303~d!#, and the implementation of water quality certifications or waivers ~under Section 401!. In addition, the CWA includes Sections 316~a! and 316~b! that influences the joint operations of steam electric power plants and hydroelectric projects as they affect water temperatures and intake entrainment. The interpretation of these laws by the federal court system, and in some cases their requirements for the enforcement of existing laws ~such as provisions of the CWA! is also impacting the present regulatory environment. Thus, the regulatory issues impacting the licensing or permitting and operation of power generation

Desire to Bargain and Negotiation Success: Lessons About the Need to Negotiate from Six Hydropower Disputes.

/ We investigated the notion that successful negotiations require that all parties to the dispute must have a desire to bargain. This desire is most likely to be present when the dispute exhibits ripeness and each party believes a bargained solution is the most cost-effective way to resolve differences. Structured interviews of participants in six Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hydropower licensing consultations were conducted to determine the level of need to negotiate for each party. The findings indicate that a need to negotiate is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for success. Several factors were associated with a need to negotiate: a weak BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement); a salient issue; participants' sense of efficacy; a sense of inevitability; professional roles encouraging negotiation; and disputes about facts as opposed to disputes about values. Participants' need to negotiate fluctuated throughout the process and intensified when questions were ripe: i.e., critical issues were debated or the regulatory process required action.KEY WORDS: Alternative dispute resolution; Federal licenses; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Instream flow; Environmental planning

Management Issues and Their Relative Priority within State Fisheries Agencies

Abstract For researchers and managers to work together for greatest mutual benefit, researchers must understand what issues fisheries managers consider most important. To assess management priorities, we conducted a mail survey asking U.S. state fisheries agencies to identify the priority, based on personnel time, they place on 12 fisheries management issues. Based on an 88% response rate, we determined relative emphases across (1) management issues, (2) geographic regions, and (3) freshwater or marine orientations. Issues directly linked to sport and commercial fishers, i.e., stocking, harvest regulations, fishing pressure, and exploring recruitment, were of paramount importance in all agency time budgets. The issue that included conflict, policy, and human dimensions concerns also was identified as “high priority.” Six other issues—habitat restoration, hydropower licensing, instream flow, contaminants, introduced species, and nongame species—were of “moderate priority” nationwide. Approximately 50% of t...

TECHNICAL CLARITY IN INTER‐AGENCY NEGOTIATIONS: LESSONS FROM FOUR HYDROPOWER PROJECTS1

ABSTRACT: We investigated the effect of technical clarity on success in multi‐party negotiations in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licensing process. Technical clarity is the shared understanding of dimensions such as the geographic extent of the project, range of flows to be considered, important species and life stages, and variety of water uses considered. The results of four hydropower licensing consultations are reported. Key participants were interviewed to ascertain the level of technical clarity present during the consultations and the degree to which the consultations were successful. Technical clarity appears to be a prerequisite for successful outcomes. Factors that enhance technical clarity include simple project design, new rather than existing projects, precise definition of issues, a sense of urgency to reach agreement, a sense of fairness among participants, and consistency in participation. Negotiators should not neglect the critical pre‐negotiation steps of defining technical issues and determining appropriate studies, deciding how to interpret studies, and agreeing on responses to study results.

Transforming Regulation: A Case Study of Hydropower Licensing

A great deal is known about the forces that shape and change regulation. Having abandoned more limited perspectives, those who study the behavior of regulatory institutions now acknowledge the complexity and dynamism inherent in the subject. Scholarship has demonstrated that the processes and outputs of a regulatory program are influenced by a variety of external and internal factors. The capture theory, and its appealing simplicity, has been swept aside by a steady stream of research findings that portray regulatory programs as battlegrounds of competing interests. With capture infeasible, these interests struggle for advantage with the agency that makes regulatory decisions, and in doing so they draw upon impressive legal and political arsenals.