I've attached an article that appeared in this mornings News Tribune. I would bet that CFM will have an interesting take on this. My question to you all - were you aware that this was going on and do you care? Larry Craig is one of the darlings of the Political right and this is just one more reason why those folks scare me.

Rewriting dam rules could have wide impact
LES BLUMENTHAL; The News Tribune

WASHINGTON - He's the National Hydropower Association's "legislator of the year." During the last campaign, he was one of the top Senate recipients of cash from the power companies. And he's a staunch defender of his state's lowest-in-the-nation electric rates.

And though he's from Idaho, Republican U.S. Sen. Larry Craig has drafted a section of a national energy bill now on the Senate floor that could affect dams, utilities and endangered salmon runs throughout the Northwest.


Craig's language would streamline the relicensing of dams, an archaic process that nearly everyone agrees is seriously flawed. But Craig's proposal also would give utilities an opening to avoid the sometimes tough licensing conditions imposed by federal agencies to protect salmon and other fish and wildlife species.


While Craig's provisions have drawn little public attention, they are being closely watched by utilities and environmentalists. The House has included similar language in its energy bill. The White House supports the language.


"We think it is a moderate, responsible approach," said Mark Stover, a spokesman for the National Hydropower Association, which represents 140 utilities.


Environmentalists see it differently.


"This is an insidious, behind-the-scenes move that will have massive implications for salmon protection throughout the Northwest," said Connie Kelleher, an associate director in the Seattle office of American Rivers.


In the Northwest, dams generate almost 80 percent of the electricity. Much of it comes from such mammoth federal projects on the Columbia and Snake rivers as Grand Coulee and Bonneville. Federal dams do not have to be licensed.


But over the next 15 years, licenses for 18 nonfederal dams in Washington state expire - dams that provide enough electricity to power seven cities the size of Seattle.


Nationally, the licenses for nearly 300 projects in 37 states expire between now and 2018.


Utilities have long complained that the relicensing process takes too long, is too complicated, costs too much and has become increasingly dominated by federal agencies.


For 25 years, Tacoma Power's effort to secure a new license for its Cushman Project on the Skokomish River has been tied up before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the courts.


Yet if the Cushman project represents what's wrong with the process, another Tacoma Power project, this one on the Cowlitz River, shows how the process can work.


After four years of negotiating with environmentalists, tribes, federal agencies and others, Tacoma agreed to spend $60 million to restore wild salmon and steelhead in what was once one of the Northwest's most productive river basins. In exchange, the groups agreed not to fight the Cushman relicensing.


Among the projects facing re-licensing in the next few years are two dams operated by the Grant County Public Utility District on the mid-Columbia. The pair generate enough electricity to power two Seattle-size cities and represent one of the largest federally licensed projects in the nation.


The utility already has spent $40 million developing a 12,000-page relicensing application, submitted to federal regulators in April. Grant County started working on its application internally a decade ago.


County spokeswoman Christine Stallard said the utility supports Craig's provision in the energy bill.


"It requires agencies to consider environmental, economic and other public effects before imposing conditions," she said.


Nowhere will Craig's proposal have a greater impact than his home state, where Idaho Power is seeking a new license for its three dams in Hells Canyon on the Snake River. The Brownlee, Oxbow and Hells Canyon dams comprise the largest federally licensed project in the nation.


Built in the 1960s, the dams block the Snake as it flows through the deepest gorge in North America. The original licenses required Idaho Power to provide fish passage for migrating salmon, but after early efforts were ineffective the utility gave up.


Once, more than 1 million salmon spawned upstream of the dams, said Kelleher of American Rivers.


"The Hells Canyon complex is a perfect example of where fish passage is really needed and where the hydro bill is designed to prevent it from happening," she said.


Idaho Power officials, however, say "suitable" spawning habitat upstream from the dams no longer exists. Instead, the utility has agreed to spend $300 million on other fish mitigation measures.


"We have tried the collaborative process," said Idaho Power spokesman Dennis Lopez. "We have had some good input from environmentalists and the tribes. But in the final analysis we have to do what's right for our ratepayers."


Idaho Power officials, along with other utility executives, have lobbied Craig. During his 2002 campaign, Craig received more than $164,000 from electric utilities, including $7,000 from Idaho Power. Only two other senators received more from the electric industry than Craig, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.


"He's been our champion for years," said the hydropower association's Stover.


Craig makes no apologies.


"I had my state in mind, not Idaho Power," he said.


Craig said his proposal would restore some sanity to a process that has become "phenomenally complicated."


Up until the mid-1980s, federal regulators routinely approved new dam licenses with little concern for fish or other environmental considerations. But then Congress approved legislation allowing the National Marine Fisheries Service - now called National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries - the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service to impose mandatory conditions protecting fish and wildlife.


Craig's language would allow utilities to propose alternatives. In evaluating those alternatives, the agencies would be required to consider not only environmental issues, but also power production, economic concerns, flood control and recreation.


If the agencies rejected a utility's alternative, the utility could appeal to the secretaries of interior, commerce or agriculture, depending on the agency involved. Outside groups would not have the right to appeal.


"Right now the agencies and the stakeholders have absolute authority," Craig said. "There was no way to balance it."


Craig's language has its critics on Capitol Hill.


"Clearly, the dam relicensing process is broken, but adding more bureaucracy and uncertainty to an already burdensome process is not the answer," said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Edmonds).


Environmentalists say that if Craig's language were law, PacificCorp may never have agreed to demolish a dam on the White Salmon River. If Craig's provision were in effect, the utility may not have been required to install expensive fish ladders.


"Utilities block rivers with walls of concrete, and Larry Craig's bill will let them block salmon restoration with walls of red tape," Kelleher said.


Les Blumenthal: 1-202-383-0008
lblumenthal@mcclatchydc.com


(Published 12:30AM, May 12th, 2003)

Eddie - This issue hits very, very close to home for me. Unfortunately, I'm prohibited by Federal law from commenting on pending legislation. Therefore, I won't. But anyone interested in protecting salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest had better take a good look at this legislation. The hydro industry has been making attempts at "improving" the licensing process for a couple years but their chances got better since the last election. This legislation rewrites some of the most important fish and wildlife provisions of the Federal Power Act. I will leave it to others to judge what affect it will have on salmon and steelhead.

Bringing this back up to the top. Am I missing something here folks? Or is this really unimportant to everyone else. Did you know that there are approximately 800 dams in Washington State alone? If hound hunting for cougars is more important than this issue, so be it. I for one, believe this is critically important to the future of our fish runs.

Eddie,

You're right. This legislation is intended to gut fish protection from the Federal Power Act. It's a perfect example illustrating how the Republicans intend to protect the environment by destroying it.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Here is my take on why no one wants to talk about this....

....because it is an OBVIOUS weakness of the Bush administration and people just don't want to admit that out loud. No one dares admit that a vote for Bush is a vote AGAINST fishing, AGAINST protecting fish habitat and AGAINST threatened and endangered species.

Bush is an enemy of environmental protection. At every opportunity he has looked to weaken the protections afforded environmental issues by previous administrations, including those of his father.

Hound hunting/no hound hunting is a much safer place to argue for Bush supporters than in a conversation where their hero is so obviously WRONG!!

Yeah, I had read it in the paper, too, and thought the same thing. It is scary. I agree that a lot of the Republican leadership is not looking far enough into the future when it comes to the environment as it pertains to recreation. Maybe that's because most recreation affiliated business are small businesses.