August 28, 2008-Skagit, Nisqually, and Beaver River Hydropower Projects, are Re-Certified at LIHI Governing Board Meeting

Portland, Maine (August 28, 2008) --- The LIHI Governing Board today re-certified three hydro projects; two in Washington and one in New York. The Board’s decision, which was unanimous, recognizes that the these Projects continue to has avoid or reduce the Projects’ environmental impacts pursuant to the Low Impact Hydropower Institute’s criteria. The Projects certified by the Governing Board are:

• The Skagit River Hydroelectric Project (FERC #553) is located in the upper Skagit River basin, in northeastern Puget Sound, Washington. Headwaters of the Skagit River originate in Canada, and the Project occupies a scenic area in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and Ross Lake National Recreation Area, adjacent to North Cascades National Park. The Skagit River basin, the third largest in Washington, drains 3,140 square miles, including about 390 square miles in Canada. The Skagit River and its tributaries drain mountain areas from east to west, entering the United States from British Columbia at river mile (RM) 127 and flowing a total of 162 river miles to Puget Sound near Mount Vernon, Washington. The basin is characterized by rugged mountain topography in the central and eastern parts, and by level floodplains and rolling uplands in the western part.

The three Project dams, Ross, Diablo, and Gorge, are located at RMs 105, 101, and 97, respectively. Combined they have a total power generating capacity of about 690 MW, as reported to FERC. Development of the project’s hydropower by Seattle City Light (SCL) spanned three decades, with the completion of Gorge Dam in 1924, Diablo Dam in 1936, and Ross Dam in 1952.

In 1991, SCL entered into historic Settlement Agreements with twelve stakeholders as part of Project relicensing. The stakeholders included federal and state agencies, Native American Tribes, and an environmental group. These agreements were submitted as a package to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and were intended to fully mitigate the Project’s environmental impacts, a key element in license renewal. For large hydro projects such as the Skagit, the environmental mitigation package historically has been determined by the FERC. SCL’s goal was to reach agreement, through a collaborative process with the stakeholders, on environmental mitigation and a new license. Settlement Agreements on fisheries, wildlife, recreation and aesthetics, erosion control, cultural resources (archaeological and historic resources), and traditional cultural properties were signed by all parties.

• Nisqually Hydroelectric Project (FERC # 1862 ) consists of two hydroelectric facilities: the 50 MW LaGrande facility and the 64 MW Alder facility (Figure 1). Each facility includes a dam, reservoir, flowline, powerhouse, and an associated power transmission switchyard. Both switchyards lead to a single transmission system that extends 26.2 miles to the City of Tacoma. The Alder facility is operated in a peaking mode and LaGrande is operated as a run-of-river facility.

The Alder facility (river mile 44.2) includes a 285-foot-high concrete arch dam that impounds Alder Lake, a 7.4-mile-long storage reservoir with a maximum surface area of 3,065 acres and an operating storage capacity of 161,457 acre-feet at elevation 1,207 feet. Adjacent to the main dam structure is a reinforced concrete spillway channel with a total discharge capacity of 80,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). The Alder powerhouse is located at the base of the dam. The powerhouse contains two generating units.

The LaGrande facility (river mile 42.7) consists of a 192-foot-high concrete gravity dam impounding LaGrande reservoir. The LaGrande reservoir has a surface area of 45 acres and contains 2,700 acre-feet of total storage. The LaGrande reservoir is situated in a deep, precipitous canyon, extending a distance of 1.5 miles to the base of Alder dam. LaGrande Dam has a large reinforced concrete spillway with an 80,000-cfs capacity. The dam diverts flows into a 6,400-foot-long underground tunnel, which terminates at a steel penstock leading to a manifold structure serving five individual penstocks for each of five generating units in the LaGrande powerhouse. The 1.7-mile-long LaGrande bypassed reach is situated in a deep gorge between LaGrande Dam and the LaGrande powerhouse.

• Beaver River Hydroelectric Project (FERC# 2645 ) is located in upstate New York northeast of Syracuse. The Beaver River is a tributary to the Black River, which flows into Lake Ontario. The Beaver River Project consists of eight developments licensed together as one project. The developments were constructed between 1898 and 1930. The Project has an installed capacity of 44.8 megawatts, and produces an average annual generation of 197,285 megawatt-hours. The eight developments, operated in a peaking mode (water is stored and released in accordance with energy needs, subject to restrictions for environmental protection), consist of the following.

Development	River Mile (Approx.)	Installed Capacity (kW)	Dam Height and Type	Reservoir Surface Area (Acres)	Bypass Length¹
Moshier	29	8,000	93 ft. earthen	340	11,700
Eagle	23	6,050	21 ft. concrete	138	3,850
Soft Maple	20	15,000	115 ft. earthen	400	8,340
Effley	16	2,960	30 ft. concrete	340	<500
Elmer	15	1,500	23 ft. concrete	34	<500
Taylorville	14	4,772	23 ft. concrete	170	~3850
Belfort	13	2,040	17 ft. concrete	50	~1300
High Falls	11	4,800	50 ft. concrete	145	~1500
¹ The FERC EA includes data on bypass reach lengths only for the Moshier, Eagle, and Soft Maple developments; lengths for the other developments were scaled from maps in the EA.

The project was relicensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 1996 based on a comprehensive settlement agreement negotiated by the then project owner Niagara Mohawk, state and federal resource agencies, and environmental organizations. Resource agencies signing the settlement include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Conservation Council, and the Adirondack Park Agency. Environmental organizations that participated and signed the settlement agreement include American Rivers, New York Rivers United, American Whitewater, National Audubon Society, Trout Unlimited New York State Council, Adirondack Mountain Club, American CanoeAssociation, the Adirondack Council, and the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks.

The Beaver River is a principal tributary of the Black River. The Black River and its tributaries are used extensively for hydroelectric generation. There are 39 hydro facilities in the Black River drainage; 11 are on the Beaver River , which include Brookfield’s eight developments, the Stillwater Project above the Brookfield Beaver River developments, and two run-of-river projects below the Brookfield developments. The Stillwater Project, which includes a 6,200 acre reservoir, is not licensed by FERC (it is exempted) as it is operated primarily for flood control and low flow augmentation, with hydropower incidental to those functions. It is operated by the Hudson River Black River Regulating District. Nevertheless, hydropower operations along the Beaver River and lower Black River are strongly affected by the Stillwater Project.

For each of these Projects LIHI certification means that these hydropower facilities continue to meet or exceed the Institute's Certification Criteria which address eight key areas: river flows, water quality, fish passage and protection, watershed protection, threatened and endangered species protection, cultural resource protection, recreation, and facilities recommended for removal. Certification is designed to provide consumers with assurance that a facility has avoided or reduced their environmental impacts pursuant to the Low Impact Hydropower Institute’s criteria.

Further details about these projects can be found by going to the Certified Projects tab and opening Skagit LIHI Certificate No. 5, Beaver River Certificate No. 7, and Nisqually LIHI Certificate No. 8.

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