Scott Simms and Mark Sherwood had their guest view published in the Register Guard, check it out if you missed it.
Proponents of hydropower and fisheries restoration don’t often see eye-to-eye, so when they see a common solution, it’s time to take notice.
Efforts to restore fisheries in the Willamette Basin could make a significant advancement in the coming months following a circuit court decision regarding U.S. Army Corps of Engineers responsibilities to implement mitigation measures. As a result, the court will likely prescribe new remedy measures and the Corps will need to undertake a new biological opinion.
In considering potential remedies, the Public Power Council and the Native Fish Society agree that options that assume deauthorization of the power function at Detroit, Cougar and Big Cliff dams must be on the table. Representing the community-owned customers of the Bonneville Power Administration that purchase the output of these dams, the Public Power Council’s analysis determines that these projects are uneconomic – producing minimal power without valuable operational flexibility at a cost many times higher than other hydro projects in the Federal Columbia River Power System. Deauthorizing the power aspect at these projects will save consumers millions of dollars. continue reading the entire article here.
