PacifiCorp agreed in June to remove the Powerdale Dam
on the Hood River in 2010, after reaching a settlement with state
and federal agencies, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation, local stakeholders and environmentalists. The
80-year-old dam was due for a new federal operating license in
2000, which would have required expensive new fish screens and
ladders to protect migrating salmon and steelhead. Instead,
PacifiCorp cooperated with government agencies and local interests
to find an alternative.
“It’s an economic
decision,” says Dave Kvamme with PacifiCorp. “We would
rather take the money and devote it to some other source of
generation that would produce power at less cost for our
customers.”
The dam will operate until 2010, while
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Warm Springs
Reservation complete a study of the local fisheries and create a
recovery plan. In the meantime, PacifiCorp will leave additional
water in the river for fish, and will turn off the power
plant’s turbines from April 15 to June 30 each year during
the fish migrations. PacifiCorp also agreed to restore the area to
its natural condition, cede the land associated with the dam to a
public entity, give Powerdale’s water rights to the state for
in-stream flow protection, and set aside more than $150,000 in a
trust fund for future land maintenance.
The settlement is
“a good example of how everyone can get together and find a
good solution for fish, healthy rivers and the people who depend on
(them),” says Amy Souers with American Rivers.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Hood River dam’s days are numbered.
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