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H. Rept. 117-644 1 (2022-12-15)

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U.GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION .
117TH CONGRESS                                      REPORT
2d Session    HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES           117-644
PACIFIC NORTHWEST PUMPED STORAGE HYDROPOWER
DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2021
DECEMBER 15, 2022.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State
of the Union and ordered to be printed
Mr. GRIJALVA, from the Committee on Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 2641]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the
bill (H.R. 2641) to amend the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 to
authorize pumped storage hydropower development utilizing mul-
tiple Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs, having considered the
same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and rec-
ommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 2641 is to amend the Reclamation Project
Act of 1939 to authorize pumped storage hydropower development
utilizing multiple Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Pumped storage hydropower projects move water between two
reservoirs located at different elevations in order to generate elec-
tricity and store energy. Power is generated when water stored in
an upper reservoir is released to the lower reservoir through hydro-
electric turbines. When electricity demand is low, water is pumped
from the lower to the upper reservoir to store that water-and its
energy potential-at the higher reservoir for later use.
Both the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the Fed-
eral Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) are authorized to per-
mit the use of Reclamation facilities to non-federal entities for the
purposes of hydropower development, including pumped storage
hydropower. Whether a hydropower project is subject to Reclama-
39-006