Tell It To The Fish
Published on June 10, 2008
Idaho agency’s new ruling on Avista’s upper Spokane River water flows is better news for Lake Coeur d’Alene’s dock owners than it is for the river’s struggling red band trout population.
In a much-anticipated decision handed down late last week, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has moved to increase minimum flow requirements at Avista Utilities’ Post Falls dam on the upper reach of the Spokane River. The new requirement will double the minimum required flow rates at the dam from the current 300 cubic feet per second to 600 cfs but it falls considerably short of what the science indicates would be the minimum flow rate needed to reverse the decline in the red band trout population. The distinctive native fish live in the river’s free flowing reaches in Idaho and Washington.
“Six hundred cubic feet per second is obviously better than the three hundred,” says Center for Justice attorney Rick Eichstaedt. “It’s better for the fish but it’s still not enough.
The science that was done as part of this process said you needed about 770 cubic feet per second to protect red band trout populations that are drastically declining.”
The agency’s decision is a key milepost in the relicensing of the Post Falls dam. Although the relicensing process is convened by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) it is up to the host states to certify compliance with section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act. And that’s what IDEQ did in its June 5th letter to Avista.
The Center for Justice represents the Sierra Club’s Upper Columbia River Group and the Spokane-based Center for Environmental Law and Policy (CELP). Comments CFJ submitted on behalf of the two organizations can be read here. If Sierra Club and CELP choose to appeal the decision, the appeal will go through the IDEQ administrative appeals process and, if necessary, to the Idaho state courts.
The key question, says Eichstaedt, is: “With that amount of water (600 cfs) are we going to be able to reverse the decline of the population of red band trout in the Spokane River?”
Under the IDEQ decision, the minimum flow could be reduced to 500 cfs in drought years.
In comments the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife submitted to the Idaho agency last month, WFDW addressed the flow controversy by reporting it had worked with Washington’s Department of Ecology, Spokane County Utilities, and the Idaho Fish and Game Department to provide “documentation that a 770 cfs Post Falls minimum discharge flow would protect fish habitat in the upper Spokane River.”
But the agency also advocated a compromise that the agencies had reached.
“In considering Coeur d’Alene Lake level issues, the group developed a recommendation for a 700 cfs minimum discharge flow for the Post Falls [dam]. There were concerns that warm lake-water would impact cool groundwater inflows (fish thermal refugia). A plan was developed to provide interim discharge flows that would be monitored for 5-years to evaluate various discharges on downstream habitat. WDFW supports this approach with the understanding that monitoring results will inform decisions that may increase flows, up to a discharge of 700 cfs at the Post Falls [dam].”
This agreement is folded into the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality certification letter to Avista with the provision that Idaho may require the utility to increase its flows following an initial five year monitoring period. The IDEQ certification requires the company to submit the monitoring plan to the state within six months after receiving its new license for the dam. The purpose of the monitoring plan is to monitor flows and water temperature during low flow periods and make the data available to IDEQ, which will then make a final decision on whether flow modifications are needed to improve water quality. The agency reports that it will seek public comment if it determines that a change in the 600 cfs minimum discharge is warranted.
Posted June 10th