Volume 2 Issue 5 May 2021
May 11, 2021By Kris Polly Hydropower is multidisciplinary by nature: It involves civil and electrical engineering, turbine design, and hydrology, but it also touches many fields of law, including environmental and endangered species law, historical preservation regulations, natural resources law, and administrative law. All that means that hydro law is no simple field. In our cover story, we speak with Chuck Sensiba, a partner at law firm Troutman Pepper, which has the nation’s largest hydropower practice, about current issues in hydro law and his advice for aspiring hydro lawyers. After California’s Thermalito Pumping-Generating Plant suffered a catastrophic fire in 2012, the process…
The Bright Future of Innovative Dam Construction: Pumped Storage, Twin Dams, Off-River Reservoirs, and More
Almost all countries have built dams across rivers, mainly for supplying hydropower or storing water. The reservoirs are filled by gravity. The average per capita world hydropower supply is about 500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, making up…
Restoring Utah’s Historic Olmsted Power Plant
Over the last 7 years, the Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD) has replaced the historic Olmsted power plant and transformed the century-old original building into a heritage feature. The early-priority-date water right associated with the full…
Building a Hydropower Engineering Master’s Program at the University of Toronto
Hydropower engineering is a specialized and highly multidisciplinary field, but perhaps because of the long-established nature of hydropower as a technology, there are now few university programs dedicated specifically to it. Bryan Karney, a professor at the…
Restoring the Thermalito Pumping- Generating Plant After a Catastrophic Fire
California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) is charged with overseeing the State Water Project (SWP) through the constructing, operating, maintaining, and ensuring the safety and efficiency of the SWP’s dams and hydropower infrastructure. The SWP provides water…
Chuck Sensiba on Troutman Pepper’s Expertise in Hydro Law
The law firm Troutman Pepper has the largest hydropower practice in the country in terms of professionals who devote all or a substantial part of their law practice to hydropower matters. Dating to its earliest beginnings over…
Mitigating Warming and Preserving Cold Water Refuges in the Columbia River
Few tasks are as challenging as conserving endangered or threatened species. Such conservation often requires balancing many diverse and competing factors to preserve the species and their habitat while also allowing for the appropriate use of natural…
David Capka: Advancing Dam Safety at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licenses almost all nonfederal hydropower dams in the United States. To maintain a license or exemption, dam owners must meet a number of criteria, including many related to dam safety, and…
Denise Bunte‑Bisnett and Rachael Bisnett: A Family Tradition of Hydropower
When Denise Bunte‑Bisnett began taking her daughter Rachael with her on dam visits, it planted a seed of interest that would inspire Rachael to pursue her own career in hydropower. Since then, mother and daughter have both…
Camilla Braithwaite and Billy Cothran: Using Geospatial AI to Make Dams Smarter
Geospatial data and advanced information technologies have revolutionized nearly every aspect of modern life, including the assessment of dams. Geospatial analytics companies are now partnering with water districts, dam operators, and government agencies to provide better assessment…
The Red Rock Hydro Project: How Missouri River Energy Services Powered a Nonpowered Dam
Adding hydropower facilities to nonpowered dams is an increasingly popular way to create new noncarbon power generation resources without having to build new reservoirs or dams. Missouri River Energy Services (MRES), a joint action agency that brings…
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