LIHI Certificate #4 - Falls Creek, Falls Creek, Oregon, (FERC #6661)

Falls Creek is ReCertified as Low Impact

PORTLAND, ME – (August 17, 2007) – The Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) announced today that at their August 16, 2007 Board Meeting, the Falls Creek Project earned renewal of LIHI’s Low Impact Certification. The Falls Creek project meets LIHI’s eight environmentally rigorous Low Impact criteria addressing river flows, water quality, fish passage and protection, watershed health, endangered species protection, cultural resources, recreation use and access, and whether or not the dam itself has been recommended for removal. Falls Creek successfully completed LIHI’s application process, which includes a public comment period, review by an independent technical consultant, consultations with state and federal natural resource agencies, and evaluation by the LIHI Governing Board, including leaders in the river conservation and renewable energy fields.

Resource agencies, both during the time of licensing and more recently, have commended the Falls Creek project for its compliance with agency recommendations. The FERC exemption incorporates all of the agencies’ most stringent recommendations and the facility makes a good faith effort to comply. FERC exemption status was granted to the Falls Creek Hydroelectric Project in 1983, and construction was completed in 1985.

The Board’s vote to re-certify Falls Creek was unanimous.

PROJECT SUMMARY

Facility location: Falls Creek, Oregon, 20 miles east of Sweet Home, in the Willamette National Forest
Installed capacity: 4.3 MW
Year FERC exemption issued: 1983
Applicant: Gary Marcus, President and General Partner, Falls Creek H.P. Limited Partnership
Applicant contact: Mr. Marcus, Ph. (541) 683-5200
Date application posted to website: May 1, 2007
Date public comment period on application closes: July 1, 2007
Date of certification (effective): May 1, 2007

PROJECT ARCHIVES

PORTLAND, OR – (June 3, 2002)—The Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) announced today that the Falls Creek Hydroelectric Project on Falls Creek in the Willamette National Forest in Oregon became the first hydropower facility in Oregon (and the fourth nationwide) to earn LIHI’s Low Impact Hydropower Facility certification. The voluntary certification program is designed to help consumers identify environmentally sound, low impact hydropower facilities for emerging “green” energy markets.

The Falls Creek project is a “run of river” facility, which means it uses whatever water is flowing in Falls Creek and does not hold or store it for later use. The project is sited to take advantage of the mountainous terrain--water is diverted from Falls Creek and funneled through a buried penstock that drops nearly one half a mile to the powerhouse below. Because of the natural steep drop in the Creek, salmon have never migrated up it, although trout are located in some of the pools, and a minimum instream flow is provided to protect that habitat. This “high head” facility has a capacity of 4.3 megawatts, and produces nearly 15 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year.

SUMMARY

Facility location: Falls Creek, Oregon, 20 miles east of Sweet Home, in the Willamette National Forest

Installed capacity: 4.3 MW

Year FERC exemption issued: 1983

Applicant: Gary Marcus, President and General Partner, Falls Creek H.P. Limited Partnership

Applicant contact: Mr. Marcus, Ph. (541) 683-5200

Date application posted to website: February 11, 2002

Date public comment period on application closed: April 12, 2002

Date of certification: June 3, 2002

Certificate No.: 00004

Date certification ends: June 3, 2007

CERTIFICATION DECISION

On June 3, 2002, the Governing Board of the Low Impact Hydropower Institute met to evaluate the application for certification of the Falls Creek Hydroelectric Project as a Low Impact facility (see below for a copy of the application). The Board reviewed the application, as well as the Application Reviewer's report, and the Staff report, both of which concluded the project met the certification criteria.

The LIHI Board unanimously voted for certification of the Falls Creek project as a Low Impact Hydropower Facility.

Ordinarily, this preliminary certification decision would trigger a 30 day appeal period in which any public commenter could appeal. However, there was only one public commenter on the Falls Creek project, and they commented in favor of the certification, and did not wish to appeal the certification decision. As a result, the certification of Falls Creek was effective immediately.

The certification will be in effect until 2007, at which point it may be renewed. The owner/operator of the Falls Creek facility is required to maintain compliance with the certification criteria, and to notify the Institute of any changes; the Institute will also conduct follow up checks during the certification term.

Files

Falls Crk Certification letter.doc	letters.pdf
fallscreekapp.pdf