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Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-110

§800 Issuance of Preliminary Permits or Licenses

Title 16 › CHAPTER 12 — FEDERAL REGULATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF POWER › SUBCHAPTER I — REGULATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF WATER POWER AND RESOURCES › § 800

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Commission must give priority for preliminary permits or original licenses to States, Indian tribes, and cities when their plans are equally good at conserving and using the region’s water, or can be made equally good within a reasonable time the Commission sets. For other applicants, the Commission may pick the one whose plans it finds best for developing and conserving the water, if it is confident the applicant can carry out those plans. If the Commission decides the United States should do a water project itself, it must not approve any applications that would affect that work. It must make studies, surveys, plans, and cost estimates and send its findings and recommendations to Congress. After notice and a hearing, if the Commission finds the United States should take over a project when a license ends, it must not issue a new license and must report its recommendation and information to Congress.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §800

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Preference
In issuing preliminary permits hereunder or original licenses where no preliminary permit has been issued, the Commission shall give preference to applications therefor by States, Indian tribes, and municipalities, provided the plans for the same are deemed by the Commission equally well adapted, or shall within a reasonable time to be fixed by the Commission be made equally well adapted, to conserve and utilize in the public interest the water resources of the region; and as between other applicants, the Commission may give preference to the applicant the plans of which it finds and determines are best adapted to develop, conserve, and utilize in the public interest the water resources of the region, if it be satisfied as to the ability of the applicant to carry out such plans.
(b)Development of water resources by United States; reports
Whenever, in the judgment of the Commission, the development of any water resources for public purposes should be undertaken by the United States itself, the Commission shall not approve any application for any project affecting such development, but shall cause to be made such examinations, surveys, reports, plans, and estimates of the cost of the proposed development as it may find necessary, and shall submit its findings to Congress with such recommendations as it may find appropriate concerning such development.
(c)Assumption of project by United States after expiration of license
Whenever, after notice and opportunity for hearing, the Commission determines that the United States should exercise its right upon or after the expiration of any license to take over any project or projects for public purposes, the Commission shall not issue a new license to the original licensee or to a new licensee but shall submit its recommendation to Congress together with such information as it may consider appropriate.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Additional provisions in the section as enacted by act June 10, 1920, directing the commission to investigate the cost and economic value of the power plant outlined in project numbered 3, House Document numbered 1400, Sixty-second Congress, third session, and also in connection with such project to submit plans and estimates of cost necessary to secure an increased water supply for the District of Columbia, have been omitted as temporary and executed.

Amendments

2018—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–325 substituted “States, Indian tribes, and municipalities” for “States and municipalities”. 1986—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 99–495 inserted “original” after “hereunder or” and substituted “issued,” for “issued and in issuing licenses to new licensees under section 808 of this title”. 1968—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 90–451 added subsec. (c). 1935—Act Aug. 26, 1935, § 205, amended section generally, striking out “navigation and” before “water resources” wherever appearing, and designating paragraphs as subsecs. (a) and (b).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1986 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 99–495 effective with respect to each license, permit, or exemption issued under this chapter after Oct. 16, 1986, see section 18 of Pub. L. 99–495, set out as a note under section 797 of this title. Applicability of 2018 Amendment Pub. L. 115–325, title II, § 201(b), Dec. 18, 2018, 132 Stat. 4459, provided that: “The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall not affect— “(1) any preliminary permit or original license issued before the date of enactment of the Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act

Amendments

of 2017 [Dec. 18, 2018]; or “(2) an application for an original license, if the Commission has issued a notice accepting that application for filing pursuant to section 4.32(d) of title 18, Code of Federal

Regulations

(or successor

Regulations

), before the date of enactment of the Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act

Amendments

of 2017.” Definition of Indian Tribe Pub. L. 115–325, title II, § 201(c), Dec. 18, 2018, 132 Stat. 4459, provided that: “For purposes of section 7(a) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 800(a)) (as amended by subsection (a)), the term ‘Indian tribe’ has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 800

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110