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Draft issue paper: Recommendations on 2001 Federal Columbia River Power System Operations and Fish Survival.

Contact: John Harrison, spokesman, 800-452-5161

April 4, 2001

Drought forces tough choices for fish in 2001

BOISE -- With the Columbia River Basin’s water supply reduced to near-historic low levels, the Northwest Power Planning Council today adopted for public comment recommendations for emergency measures to protect fish under drought conditions this spring and summer.

Unlike normal years, when spring snowmelt provides an abundance of water that can be spilled at all the dams to speed juvenile salmon and steelhead migration and generate enough electricity to meet the Northwest’s electricity needs, this year’s drought forces difficult water allocation choices for the Council and federal policymakers.

The 2000 Biological Opinion on the operation of Columbia and Snake river hydropower dams, issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service on behalf of threatened and endangered species of salmon and steelhead, calls for spilling water over the dams this spring and summer to help juvenile fish migrate to the ocean.

Under the Northwest Power Act of 1980, the Council is required to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin while assuring the Northwest an adequate, efficient, economical and reliable power supply. Because this year’s low water levels will not allow dam operators to spill water at all the large dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers and also meet the region’s electricity needs, the Council developed a series of alternative recommendations for actions to benefit fish under the extraordinary drought conditions.

An issue paper that discusses the Council’s power system and biological analyses, and today’s preliminary recommendations, will be posted on the Council’s website. The comment deadline is April 20, and Council will make a decision at its April 24-26 meeting in Spokane.

The Council’s preliminary recommendations regarding river operations include:

• Collect and transport as many juvenile salmon and steelhead as possible in barges this spring and summer. Fish would be collected at Lower Granite, Little Goose and Lower Monumental dams on the Snake, and McNary Dam on the Columbia. The Council asked for additional information from the National Marine Fisheries Service about the value of collecting and barging spring migrants from McNary.
• Spill water only at John Day, The Dalles and Bonneville dams, and only near the surface of the dams where most of the fish are located, rather than through spillways, which are 40 feet or more below the surface. This “surface spill” is considered to be highly effective. Re-evaluate spill options as water conditions change through the spring and summer, and develop a plan for increasing spill if water conditions approve.
• If spill is reduced or eliminated, establish a fund using a portion of the income from increased hydropower generation to mitigate for the operational changes, including increasing flows in tributaries to aid fish migration and spawning.
• Request the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries Service and the owners of non-federal Columbia River dams in Washington review surface-spill alternatives for the dams and report at the April 24-26 Council meeting.

The Council’s technical analysis of the impact of drought on the power supply in 2001 suggests that reducing spring spill at the dams would 1) help reservoirs refill by the end of summer to levels specified in the Biological Opinion; 2) potentially reduce summer power prices if surplus power can be generated; 3) reduce the risk of power supply problems next winter; and 4) help ensure adequate water storage to aid juvenile fish migration in 2002.

Reduced spill, in combination with accelerated energy conservation and continued “emergency hydropower,” which means generating more power by lowering reservoirs behind dams below levels stipulated in the Biological Opinion, should provide benefits for fish while also providing a reasonably reliable power supply, according to the Council’s analyses. Even with these actions, there remains about a 20-percent chance of power supply problems this winter as a result of the drought.

The Council’s biological analysis, which is available for public comment until the Council’s April 24-26 meeting, suggests that in 2001, with Columbia and Snake river flows predicted at record or near-record lows, barging juvenile fish will result in survival as high or higher than if the fish were left in the river to migrate.

“We understand there are some uncertainties associated with transporting fish, but in this year when drought has reduced our region’s hydropower generating capability by more than 4,700 megawatts -- enough for four Seattles -- it is prudent to retain water in the Columbia/Snake River hydropower system by reducing spill at the dams,” Council Chairman Larry Cassidy of Vancouver, Washington, said.

Assuming high survival in barges, the Council’s biological analysis concluded that if no water were spilled at any dam, and if fish were collected and barged at the three lower Snake River dams that have collection facilities, and at McNary Dam, the loss of returning adult fish to the Snake River is less than 1 percent, compared to smolt-to-adult survival if water were spilled. With no spill and full transportation, there is a loss of up to 11.5 percent of mid-Columbia steelhead (these mainly spawn downstream of McNary Dam), but the number of returning upper Columbia spring chinook and steelhead actually increases by 38 percent because of the collection and barging from McNary.

Assuming low survival in barges and no spill, the Snake River returns remain the same, as does the estimate for mid-Columbia steelhead (a loss of up to 11.5 percent). Upper Columbia spring chinook increase 6.9 percent and there is a 3.7-percent loss of upper Columbia steelhead. The impact on lower Columbia chinook and steelhead is the same -- a decline of about 2.8 percent -- regardless of whether transportation survival is assumed to be high or low.

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