CSPA in the News
Meet the Newest Inductees to the California Outdoors Hall of Fame
Mar 11, 2022 Read OnlineAqualliance files groundwater lawsuits against three area subbasins
Feb 22, 2022 Read OnlineCategories
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Recent Posts
- D.C. Court Denies Waiver of Clean Water Act for Tuolumne River Hydro Projects; Ruling Vindicates CSPA and Allies
- CSPA Develops and Supports Changes to Hydropower Licensing
- CSPA Objects to Weakened Delta Water Quality without Strict Diversion Limits and a Ban on Transfers
- CSPA Tells Water Board: Limit Shasta Reservoir Releases and Sacramento River Deliveries in 2022 to Save Fish and Water in ’22 and ‘23
- CSPA & Allies File Lawsuits on Groundwater Management in Butte, Colusa & Vina Subbasins
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Category Archives: Hydroelectric (FERC)
Federal Dam Safety Regulators Describe Need for Big Changes at Oroville Dam
The Division of Dam Safety and Inspections in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a letter to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) on October 25, 2018 that requires DWR to reclassify the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam as … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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Irrigation Districts and Trump Administration Bludgeon Federal Fish Agency into Submission
On October 1, 2018, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service wrote a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) retracting its January 29, 2018 flow recommendations for the lower Tuolumne River (see pp. 65-74). In its October 1 … Continue reading
Posted in Hydroelectric (FERC), Water Quality
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Draft EIS for Yuba River Development Project Omits Key Recommendations to Improve the Lower Yuba River
The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, as a member of the Foothills Water Network (FWN), submitted 74 pages of comments on July 30, 2018 to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the relicensing … Continue reading
Posted in Cindy Charles, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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Tuolumne River Salmon and Steelhead’s Future Under Serious Political Attack
Last week, San Joaquin Valley Republican Congressman Valadao attached an amendment to the appropriations bill for the Department of Commerce that would prohibit the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) from participation in the licensing proceedings of the Don Pedro and … Continue reading
Posted in Cindy Charles, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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CSPA Presents at Salmonid Restoration Federation Conference
Chris Shutes, CSPA’s FERC Projects Director and Water Rights Advocate, gave a presentation at the 36th Annual Salmonid Restoration Federation Conference recently held in Eureka, CA. The SRF Conference is the largest salmon restoration conference in California and brings together … Continue reading
Posted in Cindy Charles, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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Conservation Groups Submit Complete Flow Recommendation for Tuolumne River
CSPA and nine other Conservation Groups filed extensive comments and recommendations January 29, 2018 for flow requirements and non-flow measures for the lower Tuolumne River. The filing is an important milestone in the multi-year licensing process of the Don Pedro … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC), State Board Bay-Delta Standards
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CSPA Comments on Sites Reservoir Project
CSPA, AquAlliance and the California Water Impact Network submitted comments on January 12, 2018 on the proposed Sites Reservoir Draft Environmental Impact Report/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIR/DEIS). The proposed Sites Project would create a $4 billion reservoir outside of Maxwell, … Continue reading
Posted in Cindy Charles, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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Potter Valley Project Dam Relicensing – Second Comment Letter Submitted to FERC Urging Dam Safety Considerations
In early November, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Friends of the River and American Whitewater filed a comment letter with FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) in response to their Scoping Document 2 for the Potter Valley Project. The letter calls for … Continue reading
Posted in Cindy Charles, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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Report on Oroville Describes Urgent Dam Safety and Flood Lessons
Much of California’s dam and flood infrastructure is obsolete and falling apart. It needs to be fixed now, says a report entitled “The Oroville Dam Spillway Incident and Lessons from the Feather River Basin.” The authors of report are from … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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CSPA and Coalition Recommend Flows and Habitat for Lower Yuba River
In a hundred-plus page filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on August 25, 2017, CSPA and other members of Foothills Water Network coalition filed recommendations for improving flow and habitat conditions in the lower Yuba River. The filing … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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Oroville Dam Relicensing – Letter to FERC Requests Delay in New License
CSPA has joined a broad-based ad hoc coalition of entities in an August 8, 2017 letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that requests a delay in the issuance of a new hydropower license for the Oroville Facilities Project. … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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Potter Valley Project Dam Relicensing Begins
CSPA, along with several other Conservation Groups[1], submitted extensive comments in early August to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the just-initiated relicensing of two PG&E dams on the mainstem Eel River. Cape Horn Dam (built 1908) and Scott … Continue reading
Posted in Cindy Charles, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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CSPA comments on scoping for relicensing the Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project
CSPA presented oral scoping comments on June 28, 2017 for the relicensing of the Potter Valley Project in Mendocino and Lake counties. The small 1900’s-era hydroelectric project generates power with water that is piped from the upper mainstem Eel River … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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PG&E Completes Recreation Access Site on NF Feather River
On June 13, 2017, PG&E and a group of stakeholders including CSPA dedicated the Rock Creek Bench recreation access and parking area just downstream of Rock Creek Dam on the North Fork Feather River. The facility will provide safe access … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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CSPA Talks Hydropower Relicensing at Water Agency Conference
Chris Shutes, CSPA’s hydropower advocate, gave a presentation about hydropower relicensing at the conference of the Association of California Water Agencies on May 10, 2017, in Monterey. He appeared as part of a panel that included the relicensing leads for … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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CSPA, FOR and Others Request Release of Information and Public Involvement at Oroville
CSPA joined Friends of the River and three other groups in an April 19, 2017 clarification and public process request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) concerning repairs of the damaged spillway works at Oroville Reservoir. The letter asks … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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Chris Shutes Named “Restorationist of the Year”
The Salmonid Restoration Federation (https://www.calsalmon.org/) named Chris Shutes – me – “Restorationist of the Year” on the concluding day of its 2017 annual conference in Davis. It is recognition that I did not expect and that I value very greatly. … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC), Water Rights
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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 … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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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 … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC), Water Quality
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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 … Continue reading
Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC)
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