Early last year, the hydropower company Nature and People First set its sights on Black Mesa, a mountainous region on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona. … Pumped-storage operations involve moving water in and out of reservoirs, which could affect the habitats of endangered fish and require massive groundwater withdrawals from an already-depleted aquifer. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has authority over non-federal hydropower projects on the Colorado River and its tributaries, ultimately denied the project’s permit. The decision was among the first under a new policy: FERC would not approve projects on tribal land without the support of the affected tribe. … Now, Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright wants to reverse this policy. 

Other hydropower news:

• WyoFile (Cheyenne): Seminoe ‘pumped water storage’ project draws concern over threats to fisheries, wildlife in central Wyoming​