Wwp Dam Relicensing Could Cost $160 Million Money Would Fund Restoration Of Clark Fork Fish, Wildlife

Washington Water Power Co. could spend $160 million over 50 years to maintain the licenses on its two Clark Fork River dams, according to a plan released Wednesday.

The expenditures, about equal to the cost of building the Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge projects in the 1950s, would underwrite a long list of efforts to restore fish and wildlife resources in the watershed.

The dams flood more than 10,000 acres of land and block the migration of bull trout and other fish species up the river from Lake Pend Oreille.

But they also produce 60 percent of WWP’s cheap hydropower, a maximum of 790 megawatts. In comparison, WWP’s Monroe Street project in downtown Spokane generates only 13 megawatts.

The license for the Clark Fork dams expires in 2001.

“These projects are the foundation of the company,” said Larry La Bolle, relicensing project manager for the Spokane utility.

Despite the possible $3.2 million a year cost, he said the company has not decided what if any rate increase might be needed. WWP’s annual revenues are about $1 billion.

La Bolle was addressing a two-day meeting in Spokane of a relicensing team composed of environmentalists, tribal representatives, and state and federal officials to determine what steps might reverse some of the damage done since the dams were built.

The goals and measures identified by the team, formed in 1995, will be compiled in a settlement that would be submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as part of the relicensing application.

La Bolle said the team is working toward an agreement by next October.

WWP has proposed a unique “living license” that allows for adjustments as the environment, science or public requirements change.

Tony Incashola, a representative from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana, said the process will be an example for other relicensing efforts around the country.

‘This is the way it should be done,” he said.

But several speakers, while praising WWP’s approach, said they are concerned the company or a successor could choose to simply abandon the dams and let someone else deal with whatever environmental problems are left behind.

La Bolle said WWP would be held responsible, even in the very unlikely event the dams are no longer economically attractive. Given the financial and ecological advantages of hydropower versus other energy resources, he said, there is little chance the company would give them up.

“They will be important projects out into the future,” he said.

The blueprint outlined Wednesday contains more than 20 items, ranging from wetlands to preservation of Native American cultural sites.

The biggest potential expense - almost $47 million - would help restore fish runs above the dams. Tributary acquisition and enhancement would add another $26 million, water quality $11 million.

La Bolle said the levels of dissolved gases in the river are high, but the sources remain unclear.

Administration of the mitigation effort will cost about $30 million over the 50-year license period, according to company estimates, but La Bolle said that figure excludes other costs associated with the relicensing process.

He said about one-third the estimated costs are tradeoffs the company has identified that will allow it to avoid changing the way Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge operate.

In the Columbia River system, where fish mitigation costs about $460 million a year, much of the impact is revenue lost because operators must spill water to pass fish downstream.

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