[env-trinity] FERC requests more information on Klamath dam request

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/article/20170426/NEWS/170429682



FERC requests more information on Klamath dam request
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is currently considering an application to transfer the license for four dams on the Klamath River, and a recent letter from FERC to the dam owner’s general counsel gives a slight indication of where the agency is in that process.By David Smith / dsmith at siskiyoudaily.comThe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is currently considering an application to transfer the license for four dams on the Klamath River, and a recent letter from FERC to the dam owner’s general counsel gives a slight indication of where the agency is in that process. 
Over the past several years, a number of groups in the Klamath River Basin have been attempting to initiate the removal of four dams – operated by utility company PacifiCorp – on the river. 
In April of 2016, a number of those groups, including PacifiCorp, the states of Oregon and California, the Karuk Tribe, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and others, signed an amended agreement setting forth a new path for dam removal. 
As laid out in the amended Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, the appropriate parties submitted an application to FERC requesting that the license for the dams be transferred to an entity that would be responsible for dam removal – in this case, a newly formed nonprofit designated as the Klamath River Renewal Corporation.
A separate application was also submitted to request that FERC allow the KRRC to surrender the license to the dams so that they can be removed “to achieve a free-flowing condition and volitional fish passage through the reach currently occupied by” the J.C. Boyle, Copco 1, Copco 2 and Iron Gate dams. 
Not many updates have been provided since September, when the applications were submitted, but an April 24 letter to PacifiCorp Vice President and General Counsel Sarah Kamman requests that the company provide more information for FERC to consider in its application review. 
The requested information covers a wide array of topics, including documentation of how funds collected from PacifiCorp’s California ratepayers will be disbursed to pay for dam removal and updated cost estimates for dam removal and restoration of the dam sites.
The KHSA caps the amount of money to be spent on dam removal at $450 million, with PacifiCorp’s California and Oregon ratepayers splitting $200 million and the remaining $250 million expected to come from a California water bond under Proposition 1. 
Two items in the FERC letter request clarification in the event that funding sources fall through. The first is with respect to the Oregon Public Utility Commission’s funding agreement for dam removal. Specifically, the letter notes that the Oregon PUC can terminate its agreement to fund dam removal using monies collected from ratepayers if a “change in law makes performance or completion of facilities removal in compliance with the KHSA no longer possible.“
FERC asks for a clarification of what “change of law” means, and for an explanation of how funds already collected by the Oregon PUC will be disbursed if the funding agreement is terminated. 
The next funding inquiry has to do with the deadline for using the grant funding from California – which, according to the California Natural Resources Agency Grant Agreement, is June 30, 2021. 
FERC asks PacifiCorp to clarify how dam removal would be achieved if the anticipated grant funds were to revert back to the state if the project is not completed by the deadline. 
The target date for dam removal is in 2020, and advocates have stated in various press releases and at press conferences that they are confident that the target will be met. 
FERC also asks for clarification on the futures of Keno Dam – which is in Oregon and is not targeted for removal – and the Iron Gate fish hatchery, the transfer of which to the state of California, FERC states, has not been adequately detailed. 
PacifiCorp will have 60 days from April 24 to respond to the request for information. 
Prior reports on the FERC process have indicated that it will include opportunities for public comment, but thus far, no dates or places have been detailed.
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