The POWER Act prohibits the federal government from breaching (destroying) federally operated dams under certain conditions. Specifically, the Army Secretary cannot breach a dam if doing so would increase carbon emissions by more than 5 percent, reduce commercial navigability of affected waterways, raise shipping costs by 5 percent or more, or if replacement energy sources would require 5 percent more land than the dam currently occupies. The bill also restricts retirement of federally operated hydropower dams if it would raise customer electricity rates by more than 5 percent or reduce regional energy reliability by more than 5 percent in six western states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and California). If a hydropower dam is retired, the Secretary must replace 100 percent of its baseload generation within 30 days. The bill requires the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of the Interior to consult with relevant federal and state agencies when evaluating these decisions. No specific funding or timeline for implementation beyond the 30-day replacement requirement is included in the legislation.
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