According to reports from the Associated Press, the Department of the Interior are looking to partner with private firms to accelerate plans for the development of hydro at its facilities, with the first project expected to be the Spanish Fork flow-control structure south of Provo in Utah.
Department official Anne Castle was quoted as saying the construction on the Spanish Fork scheme could begin with a year, creating up to 50 new jobs.
Earlier this year, an internal study by the Department of the Interior found that up to one million megawatt hours of electricity could be generated annually, and 1200 jobs created, by adding hydropower capacity to 70 existing dam facilities.
