II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 182
To provide for operations of the Federal Columbia River Power System
pursuant to a certain operation plan for a specified period of time,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY22, 2025
Mr. R
ISCH(for himself, Mr. DAINES, Mr. SHEEHY, Mr. CRAPO, Ms. LUMMIS,
and Mr. B
ARRASSO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice
and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
A BILL
To provide for operations of the Federal Columbia River
Power System pursuant to a certain operation plan for
a specified period of time, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
The Act may be cited as the ‘‘Northwest Energy Se-4
curity Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) FCRPS.—The term ‘‘FCRPS’’ means those 8
portions of the Federal Columbia River Power Sys-9
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tem that are the subject of the Supplemental Opin-1
ion. 2
(2) S
ECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 3
means— 4
(A) the Secretary of the Interior, acting 5
through the Commissioner of Reclamation; 6
(B) the Secretary of Energy, acting 7
through the Administrator of the Bonneville 8
Power Administration; and 9
(C) the Secretary of the Army, acting 10
through the Chief of Engineers. 11
(3) S
UPPLEMENTAL OPINION .—The term ‘‘Sup-12
plemental Opinion’’ means the document entitled 13
‘‘Columbia River System Operations Environmental 14
Impact Statement Record of Decision’’ and dated 15
September 2020. 16
SEC. 3. OPERATION OF FCRPS. 17
The Secretaries shall operate the FCRPS in a man-18
ner consistent with the reasonable and prudent alternative 19
described in the Supplemental Opinion. 20
SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 3, the 22
Secretaries may amend portions of the Supplemental 23
Opinion and operate the FCRPS in accordance with those 24
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amendments if all of the Secretaries determine, in the sole 1
discretion of each Secretary, that— 2
(1) the amendment is necessary for public safe-3
ty or transmission and grid reliability; or 4
(2) the actions, operations, or other require-5
ments that the amendment would remove are no 6
longer warranted. 7
(b) R
ESTRICTION ON AMENDMENTS.—The process 8
described in subsection (a) shall be the only method by 9
which the Secretaries may operate the FCRPS in any way 10
that is not consistent with the reasonable and prudent al-11
ternative set forth in the Supplemental Opinion. 12
SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON RESTRICTING FCRPS ELECTRICAL 13
GENERATION; CLARIFICATION. 14
(a) R
ESTRICTINGFCRPS ELECTRICALGENERA-15
TION.—No structural modification, action, study, or engi-16
neering plan that restricts electrical generation at any 17
FCRPS hydroelectric dam, or that limits navigation on 18
the Snake River in the State of Washington, Oregon, or 19
Idaho, shall proceed unless such proposal is specifically 20
and expressly authorized by a Federal statute enacted 21
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 22
(b) C
LARIFICATION.—Nothing in this section affects 23
or interferes with the authority of the Secretaries to con-24
duct operation and maintenance activities or make capital 25
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improvements necessary to meet authorized project pur-1
poses of FCRPS facilities. 2
Æ
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