Hydropower

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has tallied approximately 75,000 dams over six feet tall in the U.S. Some of those dams are operated for hydroelectric production. In some cases, dams have either become outmoded and inflict environmental damage beyond their benefit, have become costlier to maintain than to remove, or have become safety hazards. When such dams are damaging the health of trout and salmon, TU may encourage their removal. Of course, the majority of these dams are not candidates for removal; in those cases TU works through the federal relicensing process, negotiation with private owners and other processes to ensure the minimum harm to fish.

Problem: Pacific salmon and steelhead passage blocked or disrupted by large hydroelectric dams.

This problem is especially acute in the Pacific Northwest where dozens of large-scale hydroelectric projects were built in the Columbia and Snake river basins from the 1930s, through the 1970s. Through the course of the dam-building era, wild salmon and steelhead populations that were among the most prolific in the world dwindled to precariously dangerous levels. Currently, 12 stocks of Columbia-Snake basin salmon and steelhead are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Many reasons for these ESA listings are directly attributable to the federal dams in the Columbia-Snake basin. Chief among these are the problems that returning adult fish and out-migrating juvenile fish face in getting over, through, or around as many as eight hydroelectric projects in the basin.

Solution: Lower Snake River Dam Breaching Campaign.

In August 1998, TU and its Natural Resource Board adopted a resolution supporting breaching four federal dams on the lower Snake River as the cornerstone of a recovery strategy for the river's salmon and steelhead. Historically, five stocks of salmon and steelhead called the Snake River home. They included fall chinook, spring/summer chinook, coho and sockeye salmon, and steelhead (ocean-going rainbow trout). Today, one of those stocks - the coho - is extinct (declared in 1986) and the other four are federally listed as "threatened." Robust wild runs that once numbered in the millions of returning fish each year in the Snake have now been reduced to a few thousand.

TU has worked tirelessly at all levels to achieve recovery of these magnificent fish. In addition to daily, on-the-ground advocacy, TU has - either independently or through partnerships - commissioned, published and publicized major reports on extinction risks, the economic effects of dam breaching, the science being conducted by the federal government that will determine policy decisions and more. All TU reports, its Snake River Position Statement and supporting literature, along with oral and recorded testimony, were entered into the record at each stop in a series of public hearings conducted by the federal government throughout the Northwest on the future of Snake River salmon and dams. TU has established a leadership role nationally as a balanced and credible source in the ongoing federal process that will determine the future of the four dams, and ultimately, the fish. For more information, see www.snakeriversalmon.org.

Problem: Inland trout passage problems at hydroelectric dams.

People often think of salmon or steelhead when considering the difficulties fish have migrating over, through or around dams. But other migratory trout and salmon that don't spend time in the ocean face many of the same difficulties. Bull trout, for example, often travel long distances from freshwater lakes or larger river systems to small upstream tributaries to spawn. Often in areas where large hydroelectric dams have been constructed, little or no consideration was given to fish passage. Further, in many of these inland situations the dams' contributions to the local power supply make their removal impractical.

Solution: Negotiations with dam operators to improve fish passage.

Two large hydro dams on the lower Clark Fork River in western Montana - Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge - were built in the 1950s without provisions for the native migratory bull trout, or for the native westslope cutthroat trout or the mountain whitefish. Each fall, ESA-listed bull trout trying to navigate from Lake Pend Oreille in the Idaho panhandle to their spawning grounds upstream still show up at the lower dam, their migration stopped.

When it came time to renew the federal operating license for both dams, their owners, Avista Corporation, realized the fish passage problems created a potential obstacle to renewal. Avista invited TU, along with tribes and state and federal agencies, to arrive at solutions to make the river livable for fish with the dams and their power production in place. After years of sometimes heated negotiations, all parties signed in February 1999 a settlement agreement for the dams - and for the fish. The result is a multi-year, multi-million-dollar commitment to improving passage and habitat for the lower Clark Fork fisheries. By funding innovative passage strategies at the dams, research, habitat protection and education, Avista and its partners have provided a model for cooperative fisheries and hydroelectric management.

Problem: Outdated and inefficient dams blocking passage and degrading freshwater habitat for Atlantic salmon, striped bass, sturgeon and other migratory fish species.

The Atlantic seaboard is home to a generation of dams dating back to the industrial revolution of the 19th century, many of which have long since outlasted their intended use. Dams of this type were seldom, if ever, constructed with fish passage in mind; over the decades they have blocked the migration of fish like Maine Atlantic salmon and Atlantic sturgeon - both species listed under the Endangered Species Act - to miles of critical spawning habitat. Further, these dams and the warm, slackwater reservoirs behind them inundate historic spawning habitat and often cause serious pollution and other water quality problems.

Solution: Removal of old, outmoded dams that are no longer useful and put delicate fish populations and fish habitat at risk. Restoration of natural river conditions in these cases can often be enough to foster a significant resurgence in imperiled fisheries and other widespread benefits.

Edwards Dam on Maine's Kennebec River had blocked fish passage to critical upstream freshwater habitat since its construction in 1837. Originally built for mechanical support at Augusta's lumber mills and to aid river navigation, Edwards was eventually converted to produce hydroelectricity as mills closed and barge traffic was replaced by rail. As a hydroelectric producer, Edwards generated only a paltry 3.5 megawatts of power, and sold it at prices many times the market rate.

Meanwhile, the Kennebec's diverse and once-prolific fisheries suffered. Edwards never had functioning fish passage facilities, and it prevented movement to upstream spawning and rearing habitat for migratory fish, including Atlantic salmon, Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, striped bass, American shad, alewife, and rainbow smelt. Further, the reservoir pooled up behind Edwards inundated 17 miles of migratory fish spawning habitat and wetlands, eliminating riffles and rapids and slowing current to a crawl, and raising water temperatures and concentrations of dissolved gases and pollutants.

The expiration of Edwards' 30-year operating license in 1993 and subsequent renewal application by its owner set the stage for a coalition of conservation groups to advocate for the dam's removal. The Kennebec Coalition - comprised of TU and its Kennebec Valley Chapter, the Atlantic Salmon Federation, the Natural Resources Council of Maine and American Rivers - had formed in 1989 to seek removal through the license renewal process. Soon, state and federal resource agencies adopted a removal position as well, but the dam's owner, Edwards Manufacturing Co., Inc., wanted the dam to stay. It would be up to the licensing authority - the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) - to determine if Edwards would be the first case in which a dam was ordered removed against its owner's will.

In 1997, FERC recommended retiring and removing the dam. Coalition members had successfully demonstrated that passage facilities simply wouldn't work for four species of the migratory fish, and further showed the gain of wetland habitat and benefits to recreational users Edwards' removal would yield. The Coalition also showed that dam removal would be considerably less expensive than installing passage facilities for the limited benefit they would bring.

FERC ordered Edwards' owners to develop a removal plan. In summer and fall of 1999, removal took place, paid for entirely with private funds. Additionally, over $9 million in private money was committed to fish restoration, and riverfront property occupied by dam-related facilities was transferred to the City of Augusta at no charge.

Within months of Edwards' removal, signs of the Kennebec's healing process were abundant. Increased numbers of birds, wildlife and insects returned, and vegetation planted by volunteers on newly exposed riverbank soon had grown to mature size. Restored riffles and rapids once again improved river health and provided recreational opportunities, and citizens were again treated to the aesthetic amenities of a natural river flowing through town.

Migratory fish were quick to recognize the benefits of the restored river. Within months of Edwards' removal, observers saw large numbers of migratory alewives using sections of the Kennebec above the former dam site - areas barred by the dam for 162 years. And miles upstream at Waterville, anglers were finding good numbers of mature striped bass fewer than three months after the dam came down. Since that time, all of the fish species targeted for restoration have been using the newly opened section and the accompanying tributaries of the mainstem Kennebec so vital to spawning activity.