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Spring 2002 Issue |
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| Striking a balance between energy and the environment in the Columbia River Basin |
ArticlesEnergy Trust will pursue conservation, renewables in Oregon Council decisions for 2001 and 2002 Council seeking comment on Fifth Power Plan Self-powered: is distributed generation in our energy future? Federal agencies propose to boost spending on salmon recovery Conservation investments today could moderate economic impacts of volatile power prices tomorrow John Hines appointed new Montana Council member Success stories: Pend Oreille River
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Council Decisions - Winter 2001 through Spring 2002In each issue of Council Quarterly, we include a synopsis of key recent Council decisions. In our last edition, we reported on decisions through September 2001. November 2001Columbia Plateau fish and wildlife projects On November 8, meeting in Idaho Falls, Idaho, the Council recommended $34.6 million in projects for funding in Fiscal Year 2002 to address the impacts of hydropower dams on fish and wildlife in the Columbia Plateau Province, which includes central and southern Washington and central and northern Oregon. That province includes major tributaries of the Columbia River such as the lower Snake, Yakima, Walla Walla, Umatilla, John Day and Deschutes rivers. December 2001The Council approved the following changes to ongoing fish and wildlife projects: Kalispell Hatchery design expansion The Council approved a request for funding to design two half-acre lined ponds to rear largemouth bass in association with the Kalispell Trout Hatchery in northeastern Washington. Construction funding will be contingent on Council approval of the design. The total cost of design and construction is not to exceed $180,000. Moses Lake Fisheries Assessment In response to concerns raised by the Independent Scientific Review Panel, the Council approved a plan to redesign a project that is intended to assess the recreational fishery in Moses Lake, Washington. An independent researcher will be retained to work with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to develop the new project. Nez Perce Tribe request for additional funds for cryopreservation projects A total of $51,000 was approved for the purchase of two additional storage freezers and liquid nitrogen tanks for storage of salmon and steelhead genetic material. The equipment is for a project being undertaken by the Nez Perce Tribe to coordinate gene banking of genetic material from Endangered Species Act-listed steelhead and spring and summer chinook salmon in the Snake River Basin. The project has been under way since 1997, and the Tribe had run out of freezer space. January 2002Comments on the One-year Implementation Plan for the 2000 Biological Opinion on Operations of the Federal Columbia River Power System The Council approved written comments to the federal agencies that operate Columbia and Snake river dams regarding the one-year implementation plan for the 2000 Biological Opinion. The Council's comments were directed to the Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. The Council noted that the plan embraces projects developed through the Council's project selection process as meeting various requirements of the Biological Opinion, and that the one-year plan relies on the Council's ecological province-based project review process to a greater degree than does the agencies? five-year implementation plan. Federal funding commitments in the one-year plan are vague and should be made more specific in the companion five-year implementation plan, the Council commented. Conservation Power Plant issue paper The Council adopted the recommendations in a paper prepared by the Council's Power Division that identifies 300 megawatts of cost-effective energy conservation potential in the Northwest. The Council adopted an interim conservation goal of 100 megawatts per year for the next three years while the Council develops its next regional power plan. Meanwhile, the Council will encourage regional utilities, conservation administrators and large industries that buy power directly from Bonneville to help achieve the conservation goal. Letter supporting extension of the production tax credit for renewable resources The Council approved a letter to members of the Northwest congressional delegation and members of the Senate Finance Committee supporting extensions to, and modifications of, federal renewable energy incentives. The Council approved the following changes to ongoing fish and wildlife projects or project proposals: 1. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks request for reallocation of funds to evaluate stock origin of native westslope cutthroat trout. The Council approved a request to allocate $28,250 to the Hungry Horse Mitigation Program to fund an alternative approach to evaluate stock origin and life history of native migratory cutthroat trout in the upper Flathead River drainage. 2. Request for reallocation of funds for Rattlesnake Slope Addition land acquisition. The Council approved reallocating $1,645,000 for the purchase of the McWhorter Ranch, located near Richland, Washington, to be managed as wildlife habitat. 3. Response to ISRP review of Arrowleaf Conservation Easement project proposal. The Council discussed the Independent Scientific Review panel's second review of this habitat acquisition project in the Methow River valley of north-central Washington, and recommended that Bonneville not approve the project. Washington's two Council members and Montana member Ed Bartlett voted in favor of recommending funding, and the other five Council members voted against it. The prevailing Council members recommended that the $2.5 million that had been earmarked for Arrowleaf be directed instead to funding a water brokerage that would purchase water in Columbia and Snake river tributaries for the benefit of Endangered Species Act-listed salmon and steelhead. Bonneville is required by the 2000 Biological Opinion (Reasonable and Prudent Alternative 151) to establish and fund the water brokerage. 4. Follow-up to Columbia Plateau project recommendations: Resolution of funding level for Sagebrush Flats wildlife mitigation project. The Council initially rejected this riparian fencing project because of its proposed cost of $40,000 per mile. After negotiations between the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which proposed the project, and Bonneville, Bonneville agreed to subcontract the work in an amount not to exceed $10,000 per mile. February 2002Invite public comment on a paper that describes the issues the Council is proposing to address in the next revision of its Northwest Power Plan In this paper, the Council describes issues that can affect the achievement of the Northwest Power Act's goals of ensuring a reliable power supply while mitigating the impact of hydropower dams on fish and wildlife, such as incentives for developing new power plants, increasing investments in energy conservation, determining whether and when to curtail water spills at the dams in favor of hydropower generation, and others. The Council approved the following changes to ongoing fish and wildlife projects or project proposals: 1. Evaluate live capture selective harvest using tangle nets for Columbia River commercial fisheries The Council approved continued funding for this project, which began last year, in the amount of $659,368. Unlike traditional gillnets, tangle nets have a small mesh that snares fish by their teeth, rather than their gills, so that the fish can be released live. In this way, threatened or endangered species, or weak populations that have not been listed, can be released rather than dying in the nets. Results from the 2001 tests were encouraging, as more than 95 percent of the captured fish were released alive. 2. 2002 budget for habitat restoration and enhancement in Salmon Creek Salmon Creek is a tributary of the Okanagon River in north-central Washington. The project is an effort to increase stream flows for anadromous fish. Previously, the Council approved a sequence of funding for the project to complete the necessary environmental review before proceeding with design and construction. After a review by the Council, Bonneville and the Colville Confederated Tribes, it was agreed that the work in 2002 would include administration and project coordination and continuation of a water leasing program and an on-farm water conservation program, but not design costs for streambank stabilization projects. Accordingly, the Council recommended funding in the amount of $353,790 for 2002. March 2002Invite public comment on alternative fish and wildlife project selection process issue paper The paper proposes a new project selection process that has two purposes: 1. Improve the ability of state and tribal policymakers to define project priorities when projects to implement the Council's fish and wildlife program are solicited and reviewed in the 11 ecological provinces of the Columbia River Basin. 2. Establish requirements for Bonneville funding of Endangered Species Act requirements before the Council makes final project funding recommendations to Bonneville. |
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