Expediting hydropower at Corps of Engineers facilities

Congress declares that it is the policy of the United States that— The Secretary shall— assess opportunities— Not later than 2 years after June 10, 2014, and biennially thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and make publicly available a report that, at a minimum, shall include— In this subsection, the term “eligible non-Federal interest” means a non-Federal interest that owns or operates an existing non-Federal hydropower facility at a Corps of Engineers water resources development project. On the written request of an eligible non-Federal interest, the Secretary shall conduct an evaluation to consider operational changes at the applicable project to facilitate production of non-Federal hydropower, consistent with authorized project purposes. The Secretary shall solicit input from interested stakeholders as part of the evaluation. Not later than 180 days after the date on which the Secretary receives a written request under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall provide to the non-Federal interest a written response to inform the non-Federal interest— An operational change referred to in paragraph (2)(A) may include— The eligible non-Federal interest shall pay 100 percent of the costs associated with an evaluation under this subsection, including the costs to prepare the report under paragraph (6). The Secretary shall complete an evaluation under this subsection by the date that is not later than 1 year after the date on which the Secretary begins the evaluation. On completion of an evaluation under this subsection, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report on the effects of the operational changes proposed by the non-Federal interest and examined in the evaluation on the authorized purposes of the project, including a description of any negative impacts of the proposed operational changes on the authorized purposes of the project, or on any Federal project located in the same basin. Nothing in this subsection—