The impacts of breaching the Lower Snake River hydro dams are on the agenda of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Washington State Department of Ecology. The agencies held two public meetings June 25 and 27 under the rubric of the “Lower Snake River Water Supply Replacement Study.”
The meetings are part of a response to a deal the Biden administration reached late last year with local tribal interests on a $1 billion program to restore salmon populations to the Pacific Northwest. The parties agree that working out the details necessary for the dams come down will take years of time and effort.
According to the Interior Department agency, “The study goal is to obtain a detailed understanding of current water supply and irrigation, municipal and industrial uses near the four Lower Snake River dams (Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, Lower Granite) in Washington and Idaho, evaluate impacts to water delivery in the event Congress were to authorize breach of the dams, and evaluate mitigation approaches in the event they were breached.”
In 2022, the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which manages salmon populations in the region’s rivers, called for massive regional dam removals, including the four Lower Snake River projects.
Local economic interests are opposed and seeking Congressional action. Among the opposed is Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who represents eastern Washington and chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She has charged that “the Biden administration’s goal has always been dam breaching.” Her clout is limited: she is not running for reelection in November.
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Hydropower interests are belatedly seeking Navajo Nation support for pumped hydro storage projects on tribal land, following a February Federal Energy Regulatory Commission policy “that projects on sovereign tribal lands must have tribal support.” At the meeting announcing the policy, FERC rejected preliminary permits for four projects on Navajo land that the tribal leaders had not blessed. Among them were a project proposed by Rye Development LLC and three by Nature and People First.
Bloomberg reported, “Pumped storage hydropower developers say they’re stepping up their outreach to Navajo Nation tribal leaders after US energy regulators denied preliminary permits to proposed projects this year.” Rye chief development officer Erik Steimle told the news service that FERC’s February policy statement came as a surprise, although several sources who follow the commission closely told The Quad Report ahead of the meeting what was likely to occur. Florida-based Rye is a partnership that includes French electric giant EDF.
While a preliminary FERC permit is not a necessary step in FERC’s licensing process, it is important none the less. French energy entrepreneur Denis Payre, founder and CEO of Massachusetts-based Natural and People First, told Bloomberg the preliminary permit is crucial in lining up investors for a licensing proceeding that could cost up to $25 million. “If you don’t have this kind of protection, nobody’s going to be willing to make that kind of investment,” he said. “If it ends up being a long, complex, bureaucratic process, it’s going to turn them away.”
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Nebraska’s largest dam – the 90-year-old Kingsley Dam near Ogalla – which powers a 50-MW generator supplying the Nebraska Public Power District, needs major repairs, according to local television station KETV. While not unsafe, the dam’s 50-meter face needs resurfacing, said foreman Nathan Nielsen.
The resurfacing job is projected to cost $100-$200 million and take a year and a half to complete. The customers of the local public power distribution are likely to bear the economic burden, although officials say they are exploring some financial help from the U.S. Congress.
When built, Kingsley was the second largest hydraulic fill dam in the world. Part of the New Deal emphasis on electrification, the dam opened in 1941.
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Turning to far-away South Asia and the mountainous, land-locked Federal Republic of Nepal, government plans for hydropower develop are generating controversy, egged on by Hollywood A-lister and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. He has been posting on Facebook and Instagram opposing dams planned for eastern Nepal.
DeCaprio on Facebook wrote, “Hydropower dam construction in Nepal threatens one of the Earth’s most pristine places – home to Snow Leopards and Endangered Red Pandas. The local communities are urging the Nepalese Supreme Court to halt these construction plans on the sacred rivers of the Lungba Samba Biocultural Heritage Special Conservation Zone.”
Hydro already dominates Nepal’s electric system, with about 75% of its electricity produced by waterpower. The rest is imported. Nepal exports hydropower to India during the wet season. An article in the peer-reviewed journal Helion in late May observed, “Nepal is one of the pioneers of hydropower development among Asian countries. The plethora of fast-flowing rivers provides immense potential for hydropower generation. However, Nepal still lacks a clear blueprint for the overall development and management of this sector.”
Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported that Nepal is “ambitiously targeting 30,000 megawatts of generation by 2035 – around 10 times its current output. To meet this goal, it has signed a deal to export 10,000MW to India within the next decade, while also opening up the market to Bangladesh. The government in January gave the green light to construction of mega-projects within Nepal’s protected natural areas. Conservationists fear this could unleash a hydropower gold rush, as the country races to meet surging domestic and export electricity demand.”
–Kennedy Maize