Tweaking time-consuming and expensive federal requirements could speed the approval of hydropower projects, but such changes threaten to spark a flurry of opposition, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said yesterday.

FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller told the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations that federal laws and the responsibilities of state and federal agencies may need to be reviewed to streamline FERC's approval process for hydropower projects.

The Republican commissioner said FERC has been attempting to improve the situation and that the commission signed a memorandum of understanding with the Army Corps of Engineers in March to cooperate more closely on permitting and streamlining the approval process.

But changing federal laws such as the Clean Water Act to address the problem could spark backlash, Moeller said. "Even minimal adjustments to those laws tend to be extremely controversial," he said.

The commission sets deadlines for state and federal agencies to conduct extensive environmental reviews of the impacts of proposed projects that the agencies miss without being penalized, Moeller said. Penalizing state and federal agencies for missing FERC deadlines could also change the speed of the process, depending on the size of the proposed hydropower project, he said.

"There are no consequences to these agencies if they miss deadlines that are part of the commission's licensing process or of the laws and regulations they must comply with before the commission can issue a license, such as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act," Moeller said.

FERC members have acknowledged that industry views its permitting process as costly and burdensome but maintain it must operate within the constraints of the Federal Power Act, Clean Water Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, Endangered Species Act and National Historic Preservation Act (E&ENews PM, April 4).

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is also moving to speed up permitting. She introduced the "Hydropower Improvement Act of 2011" in March, which would require FERC to investigate a possible two-year licensing process for hydropower development at existing non-powered dams and closed-loop pumped storage projects (E&ENews PM, April 4).

The National Hydropower Association hopes to add 60,000 megawatts of hydro capacity by 2025, including increased capacity at existing sites, pumped storage projects, and marine and in-stream technologies.

Reporter Emily Yehle contributed.