[env-trinity] Triplicate: Public meetings on dams' certification coming up

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.triplicate.com/News/Local-News/Public-input-now-sought-on-Klamath-water-quality-after-failure-to-pass-dam-legislation


Public meetings on dams' certification coming up 
By Adam Spencer, The Triplicate January 20, 2016 06:13 pm
| The North Coast will get an opportunity to comment on the water quality certification process of the Klamath Hydroelectric Project at public scoping meetings in Arcata 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday. The process is believed to have potential to expedite removal of three dams on the Klamath River.For years California water quality regulators have stalled the certification process that would force the Klamath hydroelectric dams to operate in compliance with the federal Clean Water Act, giving Congress a chance to remove dams and settle basin conflict through legislation.But with that legislation collapsing at the close of 2015, tribes, fishing interests, and environmental groups are turning to the water quality certification process to restore the Klamath River and its once massive — now diseased — salmon runs.The State Water Resources Control Board is required to perform water quality certification under the Clean Water Act as the Klamath Project’s dams undergo relicensing to operate on the river. The licenses expired in 2006 but that process had been on hold for several years as Klamath Basin tribes, farmers, and irrigators lobbied Congress to pass legislation implementing settlement agreements hammered out among the basin stakeholders.  Water quality certification under the Clean Water Act was never issued for the Klamath Project since the 50-year federal license permitting operation of the hydroelectric dams was issued in 1956, before the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws were on the books.  The Klamath River’s water quality has suffered as a result: swimming in the river is considered dangerous during the late-summer and fall due to toxic algae blooms that are caused, in part, by the warm-water conditions in reservoirs behind Klamath dams; salmon runs are estimated to be 10 percent of historic numbers; and salmon that do return have been consistently found in recent years to be infected with disease as a result of the warm water.Attendance was light at the water board’s first scoping meeting held Jan. 14 in Sacramento.Water board staff said they expected more people to attend upcoming meetings in the Klamath Basin. Those who did appear to give public comment hinted at the impatience building after nearly 10 years of the dams operating with expired licenses with no environmental protections.“This little dance has been going on for years and years — when are we going to have quality water in our river?” asked Dania Rose Colegrove, a Hoopa Valley Tribal member and longtime activist for Klamath River dam removal. “Our river is dying. It's like our lifeline and we can't do this forever.”Colegrove told water board staff to expect “way more people” at scoping meetings in Arcata on Jan. 25 and Orleans on Jan. 26 “so be prepared.”Russ Kanz, a former environmental scientist for the state water board who worked extensively on the Klamath Project’s water quality certification before leaving the agency four years ago, said his former employer’s “record lately for getting certs issued is not good.” Kanz remarked how his teenage son, who accompanied him to the Sacramento meeting, was 2-years-old when Kanz first started the project that is still ongoing today. Kanz was present Thursday representing the Karuk Tribe.“The Karuk Tribe is somewhat significant in that they occupy the center part of the Klamath River. They occupy a place that is the center of the world. They've fished at Ishi Pishi Falls for at least 10,000 years,” Kanz said. Through his work on the water quality certification “it became clear to me that what actions happen with this project will really affect the future of the tribes on the Klamath River.”Indeed, a scholarly article showed the collapse of salmon on the Klamath River — crucial to the Karuk people’s diet — coincided with a dramatic increase in obesity, diabetes and heart diseaseRon Stork, representing Sacramento-based nonprofit Friends of the River, said many feel this process has taken too long. He thanked the water board for ending the abeyance in 2013 that had put water quality certification completely on hold and “getting on with the business it was expected to take quite a few years ago.”A current case filed by the Hoopa Valley Tribe in the U.S. Court of Appeals argues the state water board’s years-long shirking of its water quality certification responsibilities through the abeyance constitutes a “waiver” of that responsibility under the Clean Water Act. The suit contends the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must move forward with the dam project relicensing process, which has ostensibly been on hold while FERC waits for the California and Oregon to complete water quality certification.  After Thursday’s meeting, Parker Thaler of the state water board, said the agency frequently uses abeyances to provide more time for water quality certification — not just for the Klamath Project — in order to comply with the Clean Water Act’s clause of certifications taking a maximum of one year.Stork also commented on the alternative scenarios that will be researched by the water board through the water quality certification process. They range from continuing operating the PacifiCorp-owned Klamath dams as is to completely removing the facilities, with partial dam removal and other mitigation measures as the alternatives in between.Stork said an alternative that allows the dams to remain as long as fish ladders are installed to allow passage for salmon and other anadromous fish “seems to be unlikely to meet the water quality requirements in this very hurt and injured river.”Commercial salmon fishing interests, which have been severely impacted throughout the West Coast by declines in Klamath River salmon, were represented by Tim Sloane of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.  Sloane said the water quality certification application submitted by PacifiCorp included several “glaring deficiencies,” including a significant discussion of how leaving the dams in place would affect water quality as well as the lack of a  “significant analysis of the adverse impacts of lack of fish passage for salmon and other species,” nor a comparison of how salmon would be impacted by leaving the dams in (with FERC-mandated fish ladders) versus taking the dams out entirely.“Fish passage is a mandatory condition of the FERC license and cannot be ignored, and we would hope that the board analyze the social and economic impacts of each alternative on commercial fisheries downstream,” Sloane said.Tim Hayden, director of natural resources for the Yurok Tribe, reminded water board staff of the tribes’ federally recognized fishing rights. He noted the tribe is “the largest single harvester of Klamath-Trinity river fall chinook salmon and it’s a hugely important cultural resource for the tribe.”  Hayden added that the Yurok Tribe is still committed to dam removal by 2020, the target date in the Klamath legislation that expired at the end of 2015.Representatives of PacifiCorp told the water board they are also still committed to dam removal, however, they are still hoping to do that through the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement (KHSA). While many signatories to the Klamath settlement agreements have long maintained that the KHSA could not be separated from the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) due to connected bargained-for benefits in each agreement to get the parties on board,  PacifiCorp’s Mary Wiencke disagreed.  The KBRA, which would have provided water security to irrigators in the upper basin and allocated millions in restoration funding to the basin, expired when Congress failed to act by the end of the 2015 legislative session.“PacifiCorp remains fully committed to the KHSA, it hasn't expired or terminated, and if fully implemented would result in removal of the facilities that are the subject of this preceding,” said Wiencke, PacifiCorp’s director of environmental policy and strategy.Wiencke called the water board’s certification process “premature” given the current status of the KHSA.“We will continue to work with our settlement partners over the coming months to explore alternative paths to implement the KHSA.  What we request today is that the board allow the space for that to happen and allow the parties to work together to explore potential pathways that will allow for the implementation of the KHSA,” Wiencke said.While proponents of the KHSA explore options to grant PacifiCorp the liability protection the company hoped Congress would grant it, California’s water quality certification process will slowly continue, ultimately bringing the dams under Clean Water compliance.
Scoping meetings for water quality certification of the Klamath ProjectArcataJanuary 25, 2016 (5:00 – 7:00 pm) D Street Neighborhood Center 1301 D Street Arcata, CA 95521 
OrleansJanuary 26, 2016 (10:00 am – 12:00 pm) Orleans Karuk Tribe Community Room 39051 Hwy 96 Orleans, CA 95556 
YrekaJanuary 26, 2016 (5:00 – 7:00 pm) Yreka Best Western Miner’s Inn – Convention Center Auditorium 122 E. Miner Street Yreka, CA 96097 |

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