The House passed a bill Tuesday that could lead to new clean hydropower plants in Spanish Fork Canyon.
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and backed by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, would remove an expectation that a power company would give the first $161 million in profits from the Diamond Fork system to the federal government.
A company envisions installing a hydropower plant that would generate 50 megawatts of electricity from the water flowing through the Central Utah Project. The federal government funded the project with the expectation that it would recoup its money from private energy developers.
Matheson and Chaffetz argue that the up-front costs made it highly unlikely that an energy company would actually develop the clean resource.
"Congress often speaks of energy security, but today we did something about it," Chaffetz said.
Sen. Bob Bennett has introduced the same bill in the Senate.
