Collaborative Hydropower Relicensing at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

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CBI, in partnership with Kearns & West and Jonathan Raab of Raab Associates, Ltd., have delivered training to over two-hundred agency and stakeholder participants engaged in the relicensing of hydroelectric dams.

Several hundred dams will be relicensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over the next decade. Collaborative techniques for negotiating relicensing terms are a potent tool and offer numerous advantages over the more traditional environmental impact approach and Commission formalized review.

This tailored training course includes an introduction to consensus building, tailored brief case studies highlighting the challenges of scoping studies and negotiating agreements, and a final, five-party simulation that challenges players to reach agreement on the terms and conditions of a final license. The simulation is called Yantra Power. These materials were developed through extensive consultation with and oversight by key players in relicensing. These players included the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (IECR), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Southern California Edison, Alabama Power, American Rivers, and the Natural Heritage Institute.

Most recently, CBI and K&W provided training to thirty (30) FERC staff who are engaged or about to participate in relicenses. This course, using the tailored FERC materials, taught basic mediation skills and techniques to help prepare FERC staff for their roles in upcoming projects.

Through this program, the team has provided training in California, Washington, D.C., Missouri, and Tennessee for the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Water Resources, New York Power Authority’s Niagara Power Project stakeholders, American Rivers, Ameren, and Southern California Edison.

 

For more inforrmation on this case, please contact CBI.