CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 2122 would have no net effect on the federal budget. The bill would authorize the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reinstate the license and extend the deadline for beginning construction of the Jennings Randolph Hydroelectric Project (number 12715) located on the North Branch of the Potomac River in Garret County, Maryland and Mineral County, West Virginia. The proposed extension could have a minor effect on FERC’s workload; however, because FERC recovers 100 percent of its costs through user fees, any change in that agency’s costs (which are controlled through annual appropriation acts) would be offset by an equal change in fees that the commission charges, resulting in no net change in federal spending.
Enacting H.R. 2122 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 2122 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 2122 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
On April 6, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 710 as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on March 30, 2017. The two bills are similar, and CBO’s estimates of the budgetary effects are the same.
