POWER Act

The Protecting Our Water Energy Resources (POWER) Act proposes to limit the federal government's ability to breach or remove federally operated dams. Under this bill, the Secretary of the Army would be prohibited from breaching a dam if the action is expected to increase carbon emissions by more than 5%, reduce the navigability of the water for commercial use, or cause a 5% or greater increase in the price of shipped goods, such as agricultural products. Additionally, the bill would block dam removal if the replacement energy source would require more land than the original dam site.

The legislation also aims to protect energy grid stability by restricting the retirement of existing energy generation sources. It would prevent the government from retiring a power source if doing so would raise customer electricity rates by more than 5% or decrease energy reliability in specific Western states, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and California. If an energy source is retired, the bill would require that 100% of its minimum power supply be replaced within 30 days.