On Monday, May 8th, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing to discuss the hydroelectric provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The House Resources Committee will consider the Domestic Energy Security Act (current energy bill) on Wednesday, April 13. This bill includes a provision that establishes a loophole under which agencies would be precluded from considering a range of environmental action alternatives under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for so-called " renewable energy sources," including hydropower dams. This provision has been approved by the House before, but was not passed by the Senate. If your Representative serves on this committee, he or she needs to hear from you on Wednesday in strong opposition to this provision of the bill.

Last week, the House Resources Committee approved a series of reforms to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that will make it even more difficult to conserve and recover species. Richard Pombo's (R-CA) " Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act" (H.R. 3824) lowers standards for species recovery, injects politics into how science is used in listing decisions, and relieves federal agencies of meaningful consultation requirements.

For the past month, a conference committee comprised of ranking members from both houses of Congress have been working to reconcile differing aspects of energy legislation passed in the House and the Senate. This week, the conferees released the Conference Report, their recommendation for a final Energy Bill, which was subsequently approved by both houses of Congress.

The House energy bill making its way through Congress would unfairly give electric utilities the last word in negotiations over the future of the rivers they have dammed to generate hydroelectric power, conservationists testified to the House Energy and Commerce Committee today.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a surprise on Wednesday when it granted Gustavus Electric Company a license to construct a hydropower project in Glacier Bay National Park.

The project is authorized by a law sponsored by then-Senator now-Governor Frank Murkowski. The law allows for a land exchange between state and federal lands upon joint review and approval from FERC and the National Park Service.

American Rivers' press release is below.

Andrew Fahlund, Eric Eckl, (202) 347-7550

(Washington, DC) Congress is considering hobbling public and regulatory oversight of the energy industry under the guise of promoting renewable energy, conservationists warned today.