Daines to FERC: Reduce Red Tape, Build More Hydro and Natural Gas

• July 22, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. They discussed the importance of streamlining the license and permitting processes for hydropower and natural gas.

Watch the full exchange HERE.

Daines on hydropower licensing reform:

Daines: There's one source of energy that has bipartisan cooperation support, it's hydropower. It's a renewable source of energy, it's great baseload power, it's low cost. This week I introduced the "Hydropower Licensing Affordability Act" with Senators Risch and Murkowski. This bill makes a small but very important change to the "Federal Power Act," because right now, resource agencies can put mandatory conditions on hydropower licenses. While FERC is the agency that grants the permits for non-federal hydropower projects, resource agencies like the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service can set mandatory conditions on a license that FERC, you all, issue. This can also happen during a relicensing of an existing project. This process can be abused. Resource agencies can end up on a wish list of projects that have no direct connection to a hydropower dam. This bill is very simple. It requires all conditions to be directly related to a project. This just makes sense. In fact, this week I sent a letter to FERC, the Department of Interior, the Department of Ag, and the Department of Commerce asking them to initiate a rulemaking to address hydropower licensing, including mandatory conditions, under Section 4E and Section 18 of the Federal Power Act. For each of you, with 40% of the nation's hydropower fleet being up for relicensing, 40 percent in the next four years, do you agree that we need to streamline and look for ways to simplify the hydropower licensing and relicensing process at a time when we are constrained as we look forward here? I'd just like to hear from each of you. Do you think we need to simplify and streamline it?

Commissioners: Yes, absolutely.

Daines: Chairman Swett, there are multiple large hydropower projects up for relicensing in Montana, including the Thompson Falls Dam. Will you work closely with resource agencies and push back against indirect or costly mandatory conditions imposed by agencies on existing projects?

Swett: Yes, we are spending an inordinate amount of time on hydro during this commission right now, more than this commission ever has focused on it, because it is so important.

Daines: Thank you. I mean, this ought to be the easy kind of licensing 101. There's much more difficult and complicated issues in front of us, and thank you for your support to find ways to move this faster at time. We need more hydropower energy.

Daines: Chairman Swett, in May, President Trump signed my bill, it was Senate Bill 1020, to extend certain hydropower licenses for an additional six years. Could you give me the status of FERC's implementation of that particular law?

Swett: Senator, I applaud your bill… We've received requests for extensions of construction deadlines under your statute, and we are processing them in accordance with the terms of your statute. We have not actually granted any requests under the new law yet, but that is simply a function of timing, and I believe that it is imminent.

Daines on expanding natural gas production:

Daines: I want to move to natural gas for a moment if I might. Montana recently built a brand new natural gas peaking plant in Laurel, Montana, just outside of Billings, to provide reliable and affordable electricity and maintain stability of the grid. This is the type of project we need to see installed across the United States. Unfortunately… We're seeing long delays for permitting at the federal and even at the state level. I'll keep working on the state level. You can help me on the federal level. Commissioner LaCerte, how do you see changes proposed by FERC, including updates to the blanket certificate program, helping to expand natural gas electricity production and leading to lower prices and a more reliable grid?

LaCerte: That's a great question, Senator. I think the blanket programs, whether it be natural gas, whether it be hydro, I think that they're going to allow us to focus on the hard issues so that the small issues don't have to be litigated before us.

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