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Home / Washington Business - November/December 2004 / Bonneville Spill - Portland Judge, Oregon Governor Thwart Plan to Save Electric Ratepayers |
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Bonneville Spill - Portland Judge, Oregon Governor Thwart Plan to Save Electric Ratepayers |
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Written On: November/December 2004 |
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Written By: by Charles Henry Thomas |
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What’s wrong with this picture?
On the evening of Aug. 26, Bonneville Dam looked like it was operating perfectly normally — and, functionally, it was. But rather than spilling water through its flood gates, that water should have been flowing through its turbines producing much-needed electricity. Revenue from that extra power which could have been generated in July and August — the lull in the salmon runs — could have been sold.
In turn, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the region’s electricity marketer, could have used the proceeds to cut electric rates to struggling families and industries, such as aluminum, in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana — if only a Portland judge had not intervened.
Just before the trial program was to start, U.S. District Court Judge James Redden rejected the plan by federal officials to limit summer spill programs on the Columbia and Snake rivers. He told the Seattle Times he didn't want anyone to think that he ignored the interests of the region's electric ratepayers, but in reality, Judge Redden's ruling ignored both the ratepayers and the facts.
Currently, Bonneville spends $77 million a year on spill programs to save threatened fall Chinook salmon. What is "spill?" In spill, water is routed away from the dam's energy producing turbines where some fish can be killed or injured and sends it — and the fish — through a spillway door in the dam to the river below. When spill happens in July and August, as is shown in the photograph, it's called "summer spill."
However, recent studies have shown that, because spill diverts water that would otherwise be used to produce electricity, it is the single most expensive fish conservation method ever devised. And summer spill is one of the least effective, because most of the threatened Chinook are far downstream by the time it's implemented in July and August.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and other agencies proposed to limit summer spill during selected summer months at Ice Harbor, John Day, Dalles and Bonneville dams. Their studies acknowledged that reducing spill would kill 100 to 900 young Snake River fall Chinook; but the agencies proposed spending $9.6 million on mitigation measures they said would increase Chinook populations by 700 to 1,100 fish. (To put these numbers in perspective, 384,000 adult fish returned to the rivers last year.)
The BPA said the extra power it would be able to sell under the NMFS plan would allow it to cut charges to Northwest household and commercial ratepayers by $18 million to $28 million. Still, Judge Redden, at the urging of the Tribes and Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, rejected the plan.
Kulongoski, who first appeared to support the summer spill program when the governors of Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Montana met in late March, broke ranks and put so many conditions on his support that in effect, he opposed the plan.
In a letter to the BPA and Corp of Engineers Kulongoski stated, in part, “...Increased power production should not come at the expense of salmon and steelhead populations... Therefore, it is important that any alternative spill operation must include sufficient offsets and funding to mitigate for impacts to ESA (Endangered Species Act) — listed and non- listed salmon and steelhead populations.”
The federal and state agencies thought they’d met the key concerns of the Tribe and Kulongoski, but in fact they couldn’t get the blessing of either.
The Redden decision came just as the spill was about to begin leaving little time for an appeal. U.S. Attorney Fred Disheroon in Portland initially thought about an emergency appeal to withdraw the court order but any order would come too late to make a difference this year.
“So in effect, thanks in large part to a Portland judge and the Oregon governor, the Corp of Engineers got to test their flood gates at a time of traditional low flows on the Columbia and Snake rivers,” Association of Washington Business President Don Brunell concluded. “There is something wrong when scientists agree on a program which helps people and mitigates fish losses and it can’t be implemented because of a single judge.”
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