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CSPA Submits Comments for the Yuba-Bear and Drum-Spaulding Relicensings

By Chris Shutes, FERC Projects Director
February 9, 2009 -- CSPA, as part of a joint filing by the Foothills Water Network coalition, submitted comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today on Revised Study Plans proposed by project operators in the relicensing of the Yuba-Bear and Drum-Spaulding hydroelectric projects.

The two projects, licensed to the Nevada Irrigation District and Pacific Gas & Electric Company respectively, are operated in coordination, and are being relicensed as part of a single coordinated process. The water supply facilities associated with these hydroelectric projects deliver water to large parts of Nevada and Placer Counties; taken as a whole, these systems comprise one of the most extensive and complex systems of reservoirs, diversions and canals in the country.

CSPA's overarching goal in this process, and the cornerstone of CSPA's FERC strategy, is to materially advance the restoration of salmon and steelhead in the Central Valley. The operators of these two hydroelectric projects have resisted gathering much of the information that CSPA believes is needed as a foundation for providing habitat for salmon and steelhead in the South Yuba, Middle Yuba, and Bear rivers, and in Western Placer County creeks. NID and PG&E have also resisted gathering information to determine the impacts of their projects downstream of hydroelectric facilities.

While CSPA and other groups and individuals in the Foothills Water Network have (Continued)... found common ground with resource agencies and the licensees on many studies, other studies critical to fisheries restoration are contested. The comments in which CSPA had the greatest input in the document submitted today relate largely to studies that bear directly on habitat restoration and downstream project effects.

The "Integrated Licensing Process" employed by FERC is a five year process, with multiple deadlines and requirements for comments. Foothills Water Network was formed by non-governmental organizations three years before the official FERC process began, to get a head start on working together and understanding the projects and interests relating to them. The official process is in its second year.

CSPA 2-9-09 Comments on the FERC#2310 Drum-Spaulding Project and the FERC#2266 Yuba-Bear Project