Rep. Scott Tipton had one of his greatest successes in his two years in Congress last month when the House overwhelmingly passed his bill to promote small hydroelectric projects on canals and pipelines. But it turns out the bill will not help one of the dams in the Cortez Republican’s own district.

The Dolores Water Conservancy District took a small step this month toward determining whether a large hydroelectric plant could be built at Plateau Creek, a tributary of McPhee Reservoir.

This could be the year for a bill supported by an Ophir man who wants to make it easier for small hydroelectric projects to get off the ground. The bill, the Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act, passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a unanimous vote in February. It has now made it to the U.S. Senate where it was introduced by Lisa Murkowski a Republican from Alaska.

The Dolores Water Conservancy District (DWCD) has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a permit for feasibility studies (e.g., economic, engineering, environmental, etc.) related to a pump-back water storage project on Plateau Creek, a tributary of McPhee Reservoi

The San Miguel Power Association recently took a big step in keeping energy local and renewable. In May, SMPA began purchasing all the energy produced by the Bridal Veil Falls Hydro Plant — between roughly 1,500 and 2,000 megawatt hours a year. The contract is for 25 years.

Hydropower or water power is power derived from the energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as watermills, sawmills, textile mills, dock cranes, and domestic lifts since ancient times. It is one of several renewable power sources.

Federal regulators are looking at Ridgway Dam as the potential site for a 7-megawatt hydroelectric power plant project. In September, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which owns the dam, submitted a draft environmental assessment examining a lease agreement with the Tri-County Water Conservancy District, the agency that would build the plant and sell electricity to the grid.

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) recently introduced a bill aimed at streamlining the process to approve federal small conduit hydroelectricity projects.