By the close of the December 31, 1991, deadline, the licensees of 158 hydroelectric plants, totaling roughly 2,000 megawatts of installed capacity, had filed applications for relicense with the Commission. Though we on the Commission staff will now need to consider many aspects of each proposal, the most controversial aspect we'll face is how to choose among competing uses of each waterway. In this paper, I'll present both the theories that guide how we select among applicants' proposals and alternative proposals and the methods we use to make these choices. After discussing the theory and methods, I'll give examples from two recent environmental assessments to show how we choose the license option that we think gives the greatest benefit to the public. This way, you'll see how we apply these methods, what aspects are important, and what difficulties we face in making these choices.