New dams on Snake denied again
BOISE – The 10th U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld the denial of two proposed hydroelectric plants on the middle Snake River.
Rigby-based Symbiotics LLC made the original applications for hydropower projects at Star Falls and Eagle Rock.
In its 2002 denial of Symbiotics’ request, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected the dams because it determined the environmental value outweighed the dams’ power production potential.
The company appealed the decision to the Denver-based federal court. Idaho Rivers United, an environmental advocacy group, joined the legal action on the side of the commission.
Bill Sedivy, executive director of Idaho Rivers United, applauded the court’s decision, which was released Friday.
“It’s great to see the court uphold protections for these free reaches of the mid-Snake,” Sedivy said. “The court really recognizes in its decision the comments of ordinary citizens who wanted to protect their part of the Snake.”
Symbiotics was established in 2001 to focus on hydroelectric power development in the western United States, according to the company’s Web site. It has more than 250 permit applications with the agency, some in the final stages of approval.
A company spokesman did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Saturday.