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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 Testifies on San Joaquin River Flow and South Delta Salinity
On December 16, 2016, CSPA’s Bill Jennings and Chris Shutes made presentations to the State Water Board regarding the need to increase flow from the San Joaquin River into the Delta. The hearings held in Stockton are part of Phase I of the Water Board’s update of the Bay-Delta Plan. Bill Jennings discussed five major…
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