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PacifiCorp, Yakama Nation Launch Bid to Take Over Two Columbia River Dams
A competitive bid announced by the Yakama Nation and PacifiCorp has commissioners from Grant County Public Utility District promising a fight over the Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams on the Columbia River . The Yakama Project , the partnership formed by the Yakama Nation and PacifiCorp, pledges greater public benefit with operational changes to improve efficiency and strengthen fish and wildlife protections.
As stated in a background paper, the partnership strives to increase public benefit from the dams by:
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broadening the spread of low-cost electricity,
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optimizing operations, including possible increased generation,
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achieving greater energy and water use efficiency,
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extending benefits to disadvantaged areas and peoples, including tribal and Hispanic communities,
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improving fish and wildlife protections and increasing compliance with the Clean Water Act
, the Endangered Species Act
and the Yakama Nation's treaty rights, and
- enhancing cultural and recreation values.
Ed Sheets , an energy consultant for the Yakama Nation, said details of how the partnership will meet those goals will evolve with the relicensing process.
"This is a uniquely-qualified partnership that brings 21st Century vision to the stewardship of the dams and the public resources affected by those dams," Sheets explained. "The Yakama Nation has been a resource manager for thousands of generations with a proven record as a fishery manager, depending on salmon for so many aspects of their lives. PacifiCorp brings tremendous expertise in how to operate hydroelectric dams."
PacifiCorp currently operates 53 hydro projects in the Northwest and Utah . The utility, with a long history in the region, is now owned by Scottish Power . Grant County Commissioners picked up on the foreign ownership factor. Bill Judge , commission president, told the Columbia Basin Bulletin , "We've overcome long odds against European tyrants before. Judi Johansen has taken on the fight of her life." Johansen, former administrator for the Bonneville Power Administration , is now chief executive officer at PacifiCorp.
Since the dams were built five decades ago, PacifiCorp has purchased about 16 percent of the output. Those cost-based power contracts will expire in the next eight years. The Yakama Nation last year formed Yakama Power to provide electricity to the Yakama Reservation, encompassing 1.2 million acres. This latest move is an attempt to expand the Nation's power resources and to improve fish management at the dams.
The two dams are located in the heart of the Yakama Nation's ceded lands on the mid-Columbia River above the Hanford Reach . The licenses on the dams, which produce approximately 825 average megawatts, expire in 2005. Grant County has held the licenses for both dams since 1955. In the relicensing process, the Federal Power Act provides for competitive applications and the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency determines which party will operate the dams.
The Yakama Project plans to release an initial consultation document by October 31 followed by public meetings to gather input on its license application. Grant County is two years into the process, according to the Bulletin . Final applications from both parties will be filed in late 2003.
Corinne Hollister