Providing irrigation water, flood control, and recreation, it features a four-turbine hydroelectric power plant and can potentially generate 176.5 MW of electricity.

[1] The Palisades Project was authorized to improve the ability of the Snake River irrigation scheme to deal with drought, and addressed shortcomings in water storage that became evident during the 1930s.

The proposed damsite was chosen at Calamity Point, a narrow place in the Snake River canyon with 1,000 feet (300 m) walls.

[1][2] Congress authorized $94,596,000 for multiple-purpose reclamation developments in eastern Idaho when the House and Senate adopted a compromise conference report on the Palisades Dam and Reservoir Project bill, S 2195.

The bill re-authorized at an expenditure not to exceed $76,601,000 the Palisades Dam and Reservoir essentially as it first was approved by Congress in 1941, except that the power installation was increased to 112,500 kilowatts.