NEWS RELEASE
Committee on Energy and Commerce Democrats
Congressman John D. Dingell, Ranking Member

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
MARKUP OF ENERGY LEGISLATION:
Bipartisan Compromise That Protected
Rivers and Fish "Inoperative"

Washington, D.C. -- The Committee on Energy and Commerce, which is in the process of marking up comprehensive energy legislation, has completed consideration of Title III (Hydroelectric Relicensing). Committee Republicans rejected the bipartisan compromise adopted by the Committee and the House in the last Congress that streamlined hydroelectric licensing while maintaining important environmental protections. Instead, Republican Members voted to provide hydroelectric licensees special procedural supremacy, and to limit the ability of natural resource agencies to protect fish populations.

Ranking Member John D. Dingell lamented the rejection of the historical compromise, noting that "longstanding protections of rivers and their fish populations have been put in jeopardy. American rivers are for everyone; they are not just exclusive swimming pools for utilities."

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