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NFC: Fw: [currents] RiverCurrents Online -- Week of November 5, 1999




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River News for the Week of November 5, 1999

SNAKE RIVER DAMS: Providing an alternative irrigation system would permit
farmers in two rural eastern Washington counties to continue growing
irrigated crops if the four lower Snake River dams are removed.  American
Rivers this week proposed providing an alternative irrigation system near
Ice Harbor Dam to continue irrigation on 37,000 acres of farmland in
Franklin and Walla Walla counties.  The group proposed that the
alternative
system be provided primarily at federal expense, and urged the Clinton
Administration to expand their study of salmon recovery options to
address
the social and economic impacts of dam removal. For more information on
the
proposal, please see www.amrivers.org/snake.html.

In a related story, the Northwest actually will “benefit economically in
the
long-run if the Army Corps of Engineers breaches its four hydroelectric
dams
on the lower Snake River to help failing runs of wild salmon and
steelhead,”
reports the Tacoma News Tribune (11/4). An Oregon economic consulting
firm,
ECONorthwest of Eugene, this week stated that bypassing the dams would
result in the creation of 3,100 long-term jobs in the recreation
industry,
bringing in about $200 million/yr in sales. American Indian tribes and
the
commercial fishing industry from California and Alaska would also
benefit.
“Sensible and feasible measures” would offset negative impacts of
bypassing
the dams.

Finally, the state of Oregon has joined a lawsuit that was filed by a
group
of conservationists in March to force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to
stop violating water-quality standards on the lower Snake River. The suit
asks that the Corps lowers the water temperature and reduces dissolved
gases
in operating the four federal dams on the lower Snake. As reports the
Oregonian, the action could play a role in the decision to remove the
dams
on the Lower Snake River, since modifying the dams to reduce water
temperature could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

     *     *     *

PLATTE RIVER: Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming are coming together to
reduce
the water shortage in the Platte River Valley by 130,000 to 150,000
acre-feet over the next 10 to 13 years. With concerns that the amount of
water in the value is insufficient to meet the needs of endangered
species
that use the river, the states are working on a program to share
responsibility for meeting the species' needs, reports the Omaha
World-Herald (10/31). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service originally
calculated a shortage of 417,000 acre-feet of water in the valley, though
scientists will now review the information used to come up with the
number
to verify its accuracy. If the number is accurate, irrigators, towns and
others would have to give up some of their water to meet it.

     *     *     *

COLORADO RIVER: A habitat conservation plan to protect the lower Colorado
River and its nearly 100 plants and animals that are currently or could
be
potentially listed as endangered is currently being drafted by officials
in
Arizona, California, and Nevada. As reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal
(11/4), the Southern Nevada Water Authority and other lower Colorado
River
water users hope to complete the Lower Colorado plan by 2001 as a
”blueprint
for property owners along the river whose activities could affect
critical
plant and animal habitat.”  Some are concerned that the plan is being
written based on species currently listed as federally protected and that
it
would have to be resubmitted and revised if additional species are added
later, which would cost millions of dollars. Writers of the plan are
asking
Congress to amend the Endangered Species Act with a "no surprises" clause
so
that the plan would not be invalidated every time a new species is
listed.

     *     *     *

FLOOD MANAGEMENT: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal
Emergency
Management Agency have both begun programs to buyout owners in flood
zones
to contain the “exploding costs of protecting property in flood zones.”
As
reports the Cincinnati Post (11/2), “rather than build dams and pour
concrete, the agencies are buying homeowners out and turning their
floodplain land into green space.” But some residents complain that the
amount of money offered is not sufficient to buy equal property on higher
ground. In the last 25 years, however, the federal government has spent
over
$140 billion preparing for and recovering from floods. $25 billion has
been
spent by the Corps to build and operate flood control structures. Now,
the
Corps Challenge 21 program will have $200 million over the next 6 years
to
pay owners 65% of the cost of buying properties in flood plains,
relocating
the owners, and restoring the ecosystem.

     *     *     *

KENNEBEC RIVER: Removal of the Edwards Dam on the Kennebec River in Maine
has been completed and the debris completely removed, well ahead of
schedule
and under budget. As reports the Portland Press Herald (11/2), “the last
of
the debris was removed during the past few days and the site is being
restored to its appearance before the 24-foot-high dam was built 917 feet
across the Kennebec.” The project was originally budgeted at $2.4
million,
but in the end cost only $2.1 million. On November 10, Popular Science
magazine will award a "best of what's new" award to the Edwards Dam
removal.

     *     *     *

OVERFISHED SPECIES: 98 species of fish in the United States are
overfished,
with the status of more than 670 other species unknown, reports the
Commerce
Department. Passing all past records, the number of overfished species is
up
from 90 since last year, with another five nearing that category. The
Department warns that the increased numbers could reflect the new, more
complicated definition of overfishing that takes into account both
mortality
rates and stock size of a species. A fishery is considered overfished if
the
number of fish being removed exceeds the number being replenished or if
the
stock cannot sustain itself at current fishing levels.

     *     *     *

MINING: The coal company Lone Mountain Processing Inc. in West Virginia
was
this week fined $1.5 million for violating the federal Clean Water Act in
1996 “when two massive coal-waste spills blackened miles of streams and
killed more than 11,000 fish.” As reports the Richmond Times Dispatch
(11/2), the second spill was considered the state’s worst in 20 years.
The
streams damaged included Gin Creek, Straight Creek and the North Fork of
the
Powell River. The company must also pay $85,000 in fines in addition to
the
$1.5 million in restitution.

     *     *     *

RIO GRANDE: Federal water managers have asked that the US Fish and
Wildlife
Service reconsider their findings in a draft report that indicates that
their work is “killing the central Rio Grande ecosystem.” As reports the
Albuquerque Journal (11/3), the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Army
Corps of Engineers are asking that the study consider only those things
that
the water managers say they control – which they claim is little beyond a
program to acquire "supplemental" water. Results of the study could
determine how dams are managed and how much water is available for fish,
communities, and irrigators for several years. The service has agreed to
complete the study again, though conservationists claim that the federal
water managers who spend over $10 million a year on the river have more
than
“discretionary authority” over river management.

     *     *     *

IDAHO FISHING: Major fishing regulation changes including trout limits
will
not change in Idaho waters for the year 2000, despite a proposal to
reduce
the statewide trout bag limit. As reports the Idaho Statesman (11/5),
barbless hooks will still be required in special regulation waters, but
anglers will still be able to catch and keep six trout.

     *     *     *

NEVADA CLEAN WATER: The US EPA has approved $840,000 in new federal
funding
to combat polluted runoff from streets, highways, farms, forests and
rangelands in Nevada. The funding is in response to a plan by the Nevada
Division of Environmental Protection to reduce polluted runoff over the
next
five years. Polluted runoff is the leading cause of water pollution in
the
US, reports the PR Newswire (11/3).

     *     *     *

DAM RELICENSING: Idaho Power Co. licenses to operate three dams on the
Snake
River expire in 2005, and environmentalists are preparing to demand that
the
operation of one of the dams, Hells Canyon Dam, be changed at that time.
The
three dams, which are more than 100 miles upstream from Lewiston on the
Idaho-Oregon border, do not currently have fish ladders and so block any
fish that do make it past the four Lower Snake River dams in Washington
State. The height of Hells Canyon Dam might make it impossible to
integrate
a fish ladder, though trapping the fish and trucking them around the dam,
while costly, might be considered.

     *     *     *

BARABOO RIVER: By year 2002, a fish will conceivably be able to navigate
the
entire 120 miles of the Baraboo river in Wisconsin unfettered by dams. As
reports the Wisconsin State Journal (11/3), scientists are working now on
a
8-year $208,000 study to gather data illustrating the benefits of dam
removal on that river after the three remaining dams are removed. One
benefit already forecasted is the return of a much larger variety of
fish,
including sturgeon and walleye. The study will also seek to determine
where
fish will congregate and the distance the fish will travel after the dams
are removed.

     *     *     *

CONESTOGA RIVER: In an effort to bring back shad, work on a $250,000 fish
ladder at a 6-foot high dam on the Conestoga River in Pennsylvania has
begun. The 91-year old dam is the last remaining barrier in the effort to
return shad to the river. The Fish and Boat Commission fisheries has
stocked
1.5 million tiny shad fry in the river since 1995, which they hope will
now
return up the river at age 4 and 5. The majority of funding for the
project
comes from a grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency's
Chesapeake Bay Program.



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