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H.R. 1967, Bureau of Reclamation Pumped Storage Hydropower Development Act 1 (May 31, 2017)

handle is hein.congrec/cbo3536 and id is 1 raw text is: 





                  CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
                              COST   ESTIMATE

                                                                    May  31, 2017



                                  H.R.   1967
 Bureau   of Reclamation   Pumped Storage Hydropower Development Act

 As  ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on April 27, 2017


 Under current law, nonfederal entities that propose to develop facilities for pumped storage
hydropower at reservoirs administered by the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) must enter
into a lease contract with the bureau; at some reservoirs those entities need to obtain a
license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). (Pumped storage
hydropower is a type of storage for hydroelectric energy used by electric power systems for
load balancing.) H.R. 1967 would make the BOR the sole regulatory authority for pumped
storage developers that are currently subject to regulation by both BOR and FERC.

CBO  expects that BOR would need to allocate additional staff hours to negotiate lease
agreements, but based on an analysis of information from BOR, CBO estimates that those
costs would be insignificant and subject to the availability of appropriated funds. In
addition, FERC recovers 100 percent of its costs, which are controlled by annual
appropriations through user fees. Thus any reduction in FERC's cost resulting from
shifting its licensing responsibilities to BOR would be offset by an equal change in fees,
resulting in no net change in discretionary spending.

Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues, therefore pay-as-you-go
procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1967 would not increase net
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods
beginning in 2028.

H.R. 1967 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded  Mandates Reform Act and would benefit public entities that develop storage
projects at BOR facilities. Any costs incurred by those entities under agreements with the
federal government would result from participating in a voluntary federal program.

The CBO  staff contacts for this estimate are Aurora Swanson (for federal costs)
and Jon Sperl (for intergovernmental mandates). The estimate was approved by
H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

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