A recent Supreme Court decision on water quantity
might help the Northwest’s beleaguered salmon. In a 7-2 ruling, the
court said states can set minimum flow standards for waters
downstream of hydroelectric plants. The case involved a dam that
the city of Tacoma and a county utility wanted to build on the
Dosewallips River near Olympic National Park. The state argued
successfully it has the right, under the Clean Water Act, to ensure
that rivers flow sufficiently to meet state rules to protect
steelhead trout and salmon. Katie Brueckmann, spokesman for the
utility company Tacoma City and Light, told the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer the ruling effectively kills the proposed dam.
The ruling might also terminate the Salt Caves hydroelectric
project on the Upper Klamath River in Oregon, reports The
Oregonian. Prior to the court’s decision, the Federal Energy and
Regulatory Commission had absolute control over the licensing
process for dams (HCN, 12/12/91). Jeff King, a resource analyst for
the Northwest Planning Council, said the court’s decision is
“liable to make development of hydroelectric plants more difficult.
Now it seems there are two decision-makers, where previously there
was one.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Decision kills a dam.
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