U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) flood control dams have been prime candidates for the installation of small-scale hydropower developments. This paper presents a summary of three key issues that arise in such developments and how they were addressed during the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licensing process at three COE dams in the Northeast. The three issues are the question of a daily pulsing arrangement for hydroelectric power generation as opposed to generation using current COE releases patterns (run-of-river), the requirements for flows during construction, and the reservoir levels and intake draw-off levels to be used.