A bill to require the Secretary of the Army to issue guidance relating to the review of applications for alteration or temporary or permanent occupation or use of certain hydropower projects, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Steve Daines (Republican-MT)July 15, 2026

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Introduced

In Committee

Passed One Chamber

Passed Both Chambers

Signed into Law

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Requires new rules to speed up approval for non-federal hydropower projects.

This bill would require the Secretary of the Army to create clear, standardized rules for reviewing applications to alter or use non-federal hydropower projects. This means hydropower project operators would get a more predictable and transparent process, with clear checklists and timelines, instead of the current less structured system.

What Would Change

Today, the process for getting approval for changes to non-federal hydropower projects lacks standardized guidance, clear completeness rules, or defined timelines. If this bill passes, the Secretary of the Army would be required to issue comprehensive guidance within one year. This guidance would establish standardized checklists, clear criteria for complete applications, and specific procedures for reviews, while also limiting initial checks to administrative details.

Key Provisions

Requires the Secretary of the Army to create a standard checklist for hydropower project applications within one year.
Requires clear rules for what makes a hydropower project application complete, including document and formatting needs.
Requires specific steps and timelines for reviewing hydropower projects that need phased design reviews.
Requires new ways to escalate hydropower project applications to higher officials if deadlines are missed.
Limits initial reviews of applications to only check if all documents are submitted and correctly formatted, not detailed technical designs.
Blocks reviewers from asking for design changes or considering factors not on the checklist during the initial completeness check.

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S 4992 · 119th Congress · July 15, 2026 · AI Summary by gemini-2.5-flash · 9/10

A bill to require the Secretary of the Army to issue guidance relating to the review of applications for alteration or temporary or permanent occupation or use of certain hydropower projects, and for other purposes.

What Would Change

Key Provisions

Lobbying Activity