Federal water study requires private power companies' approval to proceed
H.R. 8113 — To direct the Secretary of the Interior to carry out a feasibility study on a selective water withdrawal system at Glen Canyon Dam, and for other purposes. · Filed by Celeste Maloy (R-UT) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 26, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the Interior Department to study whether Glen Canyon Dam can be fitted with a selective water withdrawal system that would allow it to release cold water for hydropower while preventing invasive species from being sucked into the system. The study must be completed within 18 months, funded by federal appropriations, and if deemed feasible and approved by power contractors, construction can proceed. The bill does not change existing Colorado River water-management rules.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to authorize and fund a technical study on a specific water-management technology at a named federal facility. It is neither deregulation nor appropriation, but rather a directive to investigate a potential infrastructure modification within existing legal and environmental frameworks.
What the text implies
- Power contractors gain effective veto authority over a federal water-management decision by requiring their 'concurrence' before construction—a structural advantage not explicitly framed as a policy choice.
- The study is explicitly scoped to optimize hydropower generation alongside invasive species prevention, potentially prioritizing energy output over other environmental or water-allocation objectives.
- Nonreimbursable federal funding (subsection d(2)) means power contractors receive a public subsidy for infrastructure that will benefit their commercial operations without cost recovery.
- The 18-month deadline creates pressure to reach a predetermined conclusion (feasibility) rather than a genuine open-ended investigation.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The study itself is a public-interest measure addressing invasive species control and hydropower optimization under existing environmental frameworks. However, the bill's operative mechanism—requiring power contractors' concurrence before construction—gives private energy interests veto power over a federal water-management decision, creating a structural imbalance between public environmental goals and private commercial interests.
Who stands to gain
- Colorado River Storage Project power contractors
- hydroelectric power generation sector
Named in the bill
Secretary of the Interior, Commissioner of Reclamation, Secretary of Energy, Colorado River Storage Project power contractors, Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, Lake Mead
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Mar 26, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 26, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $20,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 5 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Celeste Maloy, the sponsor, reported $716,075 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Colorado River Energy Distributors Association — $20,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,845 characters) on Apr 14, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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