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ANR describes dam-safety work and FERC-linked hydroelectric permitting under flood-resilience law
Summary
Committee heard that dam safety, river-corridor regulation and hydroelectric relicensing are active areas under the Flood Resilience Act; ANR said hires continue and coordination with utilities and federal FERC processes is required.
Jason Batchelder, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, and Julie Moore described state efforts on dam safety and flood resilience that follow last year’s Flood Resilience Act.
Batchelder said DEC’s work includes dam-safety oversight and coordination on dams that generate hydropower; Moore added that federal licensing through FERC complicates relicensing and modernization of many older hydroelectric facilities. Moore said those facilities often were constructed before current environmental expectations and that relicensing can require significant environmental improvements.
The officials told the committee that the administration added staff in response to the Flood Resilience Act but that funding did not cover every authorized position. Batchelder said the department had funding to fill 11 of 15 positions in the act and that several roles were either recently filled or under recruitment. The administration set a hiring goal into 2027 for remaining positions.
Committee members asked about coordination with utilities such as Green Mountain Power on dam work; Batchelder and Moore described joint teams that work on safety, flow and habitat protections. They also noted that relicensing timelines for some projects can span decades and that environmental standards and expectations have changed since older permits were issued.
No formal votes were taken. Committee members asked for follow-up materials on hires, program timelines and FERC-related permitting processes.
