Administrative Law Judge Parlen McKenna issued his ruling yesterday on several issues of fact contested by Klamath dam owner PacifiCorp, with regard to conditions recommended to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the relicensing of their dams and hydroelectric facilities. Yesterdays ruling found that proposed prescription made by the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Commerce would benefit salmon, steelhead, and lamprey by providing access to an estimated 58 miles of habitat between PacifiCorp dams.
"I am pleased that these findings of fact substantially support the proposed prescriptions," said Steve Thompson, Manager for the US Fish and Wildlife Services California and Nevada Operations Office, and DOI lead for PacifiCorps relicensing "We look forward to starting the restoration of this amazing river so that future generations may enjoy this important and vital natural resource".
PacifiCorps FERC license expired on March 1, 2006 , and until a new 30-50 year license is issued it will operate on annual extensions of the existing license. The existing license contains no provision for fish passage fish passage
Fish passage is the ability of fish or other aquatic species to move freely throughout their life to find food, reproduce, and complete their natural migration cycles. Millions of barriers to fish passage across the country are fragmenting habitat and leading to species declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fish Passage Program is working to reconnect watersheds to benefit both wildlife and people.
Learn more about fish passage .
Under the Federal Power Act, the Secretaries of the Department of Interior and Commerce have discretionary authority to require conditions to be included in new hydropower licenses. In March 2006, after several years of careful analysis and interagency cooperation, the departments submitted their preliminary prescription to FERC, which included fish passage both upstream and downstream, for PacifiCorps Iron Gate, Copco I and II and J.C. Boyle dams.
Recent amendments to the Federal Power Act permitted PacifiCorp to request the very first federal hearing to contest conditions submitted to FERC. At the hearing, DOI and NOAA Fisheries were joined by the States of Oregon and California, the Klamath Tribes, the Hoopa Valley Tribe, the Yurok Tribe, as well as a coalition of conservation and fisheries group to defend the fish passage prescriptions.
The proposed prescriptions would restore access to an estimated 58 miles of habitat for chinook, steelhead, and lamprey, and improve connectivity for resident redband trout. This includes 46 miles of habitat for the threatened coho salmon. Fish passage would also create the opportunity for the development and implementation of a reintroduction plan to return salmon, steelhead and lamprey to more than 300 miles of historic habitat above the project. The exclusion of these fish from the upper basin began with the completion of the first dam in 1918.
Judge McKenna also found that flows prescribed to protect lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management would improve riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian and fish habitat, and would improve fishery resources, although they would have substantial impacts on whitewater boating. Yesterdays ruling will be evaluated carefully when finalizing prescriptions for PacificCorps new license. Other factors that will be considered include FERCs draft Environmental Impact Statement that was released earlier this week, alternatives proposed by the company, and comments received from the public. The final prescription to be included in the license will be submitted to FERC sometime early in 2007.
