Utility decides against building dam

PRESTON, Idaho – A proposal to dam the Bear River along a stretch known as the Oneida Narrows suffered a major setback when a utility that operates three other dams on the river decided to back away from the project.

PacifiCorp Energy filed a motion Tuesday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, asking the agency to dismiss the utility’s license application and rescind a preliminary permit issued in 2005.

The utility, which operates three other hydroelectric dams on the river, has concluded that building a new dam downstream would conflict with its existing hydroelectric license, operations and a 2003 river and habitat restoration agreement, according to its 32-page filing.

The possibility of a fourth dam on the river attracted vigorous opposition from anglers, recreationists and environmentalists, who cheered the utility’s actions and declared the project dead.

“It’s a pretty significant blow,” Liz Paul, spokeswoman for Idaho Rivers United, said Thursday. “It’s just a bad idea that now needs to go away permanently.”

The Bear River Narrows Hydroelectric Project was initially proposed by the Twin Lakes Canal Co. as a way to hold its members’ water rights, which now flow to Utah.

But the canal company needed the backing and license of Portland-based PacifiCorp to move forward, and for a while it got that help. In 2005, FERC granted the canal company a permit to study for three years how to build an 85-foot-high, 700-foot long embankment dam just below a PacifiCorp hydroelectric dam. Under the proposal, the new dam would contain about 6,800 acre-feet of water capable of generating 7 megawatts of electricity.

Under federal rules, PacifiCorp would have to amend its existing license to incorporate operations of a fourth dam.

But the utility, in compliance with a 2003 settlement with environmental groups, has also invested millions of dollars in environmental projects to offset the loss and destruction of Bonneville cutthroat trout habitat caused by its dams. Under that agreement, PacifiCorp is required to manage the Oneida Narrows section for recreation.

Environmental groups, including Idaho Rivers United and Trout Unlimited, have threatened to reopen the settlement and the utility’s operating license if a new dam were approved for that stretch of river.

Despite the setback, canal company officials remain hopeful the dam’s future is not yet doomed.

“There’s no fatal blow at all. We’ll continue today, tomorrow and moving forward to get our dam built,” said Clair Bosen, president of the Twin Lakes Canal.

Bosen said FERC must still respond to PacifiCorp’s motion to withdraw and believes the canal company has addressed all of the utility’s concerns about a dam that would have significant, long-term economic benefits for the region.

“The other thing, talking about advantages, is we’re storing water that would just go down the river to the Great Salt Lake,” Bosen said. “Some of us were out of water the first of August.”