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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