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180,000 People out of their Homes: Oroville Spillway Was Someone Else’s Problem
In 2005, Ron Stork of Friends of the River warned in a Motion to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that the “ungated, unarmored spillway” at Oroville Dam needed to be made into a real spillway with real concrete. The term “spillway” is generous. It’s a concrete wall with the top of a huge reservoir…
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PG&E Withdraws License Application on Butte Creek: Future of Spring-Run Salmon Uncertain
By Chris Shutes (CSPA) and Dave Steindorf (American Whitewater) In a surprise move, PG&E announced on February 2, 2017 that it was withdrawing its application to relicense the DeSabla – Centerville Hydroelectric Project on Butte Creek and the West Branch Feather River. The reach of Butte Creek affected by the Project is home to the…
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Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Rebuffs Idaho Power’s Attack on Clean Water Act
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has dismissed a petition by Idaho Power Company that sought to limit the right of states to enforce water quality requirements when FERC relicenses hydropower projects. In a January 2 post, we described the circumstances of the case and provided the intervention and Motion to Dismiss of CSPA and…
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CSPA Defends the Clean Water Act Once Again
One of CSPA’s many strategies in the past several years has been to defend the federal Clean Water Act from attack. Much of this defense has been in the context the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) relicensing of hydropower projects. Section 401 of the Clean Water Act requires that an affected state certify that certain…
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CSPA and Friends of the River Defend Clean Water Act and CEQA
CSPA and Friends of the River (FOR) have filed an amicus brief arguing that the procedures of state law are not preempted by federal law in California’s application of the federal Clean Water Act. The brief argues in favor of the state’s procedures for issuing a water quality certification for FERC hydropower licensing, including the…
