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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nw Rivers Listed As Threatened Possibility Of Abandoned Dam Makes White Salmon Third-Most-Endangered In Nation

Scott Sonner Associated Press

Several Northwest rivers are on a conservation group’s annual list of the nation’s most troubled waters, including the White Salmon River in Washington state, ranked third-most-endangered in the nation.

American Rivers, a nonprofit group based here, warned that a utility’s threat to abandon a hydroelectric dam on the White Salmon because of rising costs to protect fish raises red flags about plans to deregulate the electric industry.

The group’s list, released Wednesday, ranked the Missouri and Upper Hudson rivers as the most endangered streams nationally.

The middle stretch of the Snake River, the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, Idaho’s Clearwater River and Oregon’s Rough and Ready Creek made a second-tier list of threatened streams.

The conservationists cited the high threat of extinction of salmon and steelhead runs on the White Salmon River as a regulatory battle rages over fish passage.

Officials for the dam owner and operator, PacifiCorp Electric Operators based in Portland, said they were working to find a way to keep the dam operating and protect the fish runs.

But they acknowledged that deregulation could put smaller hydropower projects, like the Condit Dam on the White Salmon, at a competitive disadvantage.

“The costs that are going to be imposed on them are going to make it pretty hard to compete. I think it is true that for small hydro, it is going to be tough,” said Terry Flores, PacifiCorp’s hydro policy administrator.

The White Salmon River flows 45 miles out of the glaciers of Mount Adams to the Columbia River.

Wild spring chinook have gone extinct since the Condit Dam was built in 1913 and three other wild fish runs are on the brink of extinction, according to the American Fisheries Society.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered PacifiCorp to install fish passageways. But the utility is threatening to “walk away” from the project, leaving a potential “deadbeat” dam, said American Rivers, which advocates removal of the dam.

“PacifiCorp’s refusal to take responsibility for fish passage is an ominous sign of times to come in the electric industry,” American Rivers said in a report.

“While competition may be good for the electric rates of some, especially industrial and other powerful customers, it may make the operation of small hydropower dams uneconomical, even without fish protection.

“As a result, the nation may face an epidemic of abandoned dams that have continuing adverse environmental impacts.”

PacifiCorp has estimated it would cost $30 million to install the fish ladders called for by FERC.

“That would be unacceptable to us. It would make the project significantly uneconomic to operate,” Flores said.

For about $15 million, PacifiCorp believes it could trap and haul the fish around the dam without endangering them, she said.

In addition, PacifiCorp is preparing to release a feasibility study it commissioned along with Northwest Indian tribes estimating it would cost $14 million to $37 million to remove the dam, Flores said.

“We are trying hard to balance both sides of the equation. We are willing to talk about anything, even dam removal if it can make economic sense for the company and its customers,” she said.

American Rivers cited the following risks to other rivers in the region:

Clearwater River, threatened by unsustainable timber harvest and road construction on unstable slopes.

Columbia River, Hanford stretch, proposed by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., for federal Wild and Scenic protection, at risk of farming and development as Energy Department disposes of much of the 540-square-mile Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Rough and Ready Creek, a tributary of the Illinois National Wild and Scenic River in the Siskiyou National Forest in southwest Oregon, threatened by strip mining operations.

Mid-Snake River in southern Idaho between Milner Dam and King Hill, severely degraded by six dams, irrigation diversion, farm runoff and discharges from fish farms.