Certification Application Program
Welcome! The LIHI Certification Application Program has been in existence for over ten years. As the hydro certification program continues to mature and LIHI gains greater experience with a wide variety of hydro facilities, we have the responsibility to evaluate whether our criteria are the best way to measure whether a hydro facility meets LIHI’s goals for river flows, water quality, fisheries and other environmental indicators of a healthy ecosystem around these facilities, as well as meeting recreation and cultural preservation needs.
LIHI undertook such an evaluation, issuing draft revised criteria in April 2009. In public comment to those draft criteria, and in the context of comments received in recent months about certain specific applications for LIHI certification, LIHI has heard substantive concerns that either its current or April 2009 proposed criteria may not adequately address.
In the coming months, LIHI will be assessing the merit of these concerns; as part of this process, LIHI will be testing whether supplemental and/or alternative approaches to evaluating a hydroelectric facility’s impact on the environment, public uses, and cultural resources have merit. No decisions have been made on whether supplemental, revised or new criteria are needed, and such decisions will only be made after a full and complete vetting process that will involve a broad range of stakeholders.
In the meantime, all projects will be evaluated based on LIHI’s existing criteria. Until we issue the new program documents, these existing documents (see links below) have been upgraded to accommodate the introduction of a mandatory Intake review process, and should be what you use to prepare your Low Impact Certification Application. If you have questions, please call 207-773-8190.