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Rocky Reach license effort reaches milestone

Chelan County PUD
News Release
 2/27/2006

Chelan County PUD commissioners Monday endorsed an agreement between the PUD and stakeholder agencies in support of a new 50-year operating license for Rocky Reach Dam.

The PUD will submit the settlement agreement to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for approval in mid-March.

Gregg Carrington, Hydro Services director, thanked federal and state agencies, PUD staff and commissioners for their eight years of collaborative negotiation to get to this point. “We’ve reached a historic agreement that will ensure that we will be able to provide safe, reliable, low-cost power from the Project for the next 50 years,” he told commissioners.

Attending to voice support for the settlement were:

Bob Parlette, a member of a recreation advisory committee, urged commissioners to keep fighting for ways to spend more on recreation enhancements.

Signers to the agreement are expected to include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. National Park Service, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Washington State Department of Ecology, Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, the city of Entiat, Alcoa, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

“When I was a boy, I drove by Rocky Reach as it was being built,” said PUD commissioner Bob Boyd. “I had no idea I’d be sitting here today…making the motion that will set (the course for) the next 50 years.”

Added commissioner Norm Gutzwiler, “I’d like to say thank each and every one of you; the citizens, the employees of the PUD and each of the other agencies…. You’ve put in thousands of hours of very hard work…. You’ve put in more than your work hours. It’s your heart and soul.”

The agreement includes provisions for a multimillion-dollar upgrade at Entiat Park, for continuing management plans involving white sturgeon, bull trout and Pacific lamprey, and for eventual enhancement of Lincoln Rock and Daroga state parks. The settlement package also includes management plans for shoreline erosion, water quality, resident fish, wildlife, cultural resources and recreation.

Costs for implementing the new license are estimated $394 million over 50 years.

The current 50-year license for Rocky Reach runs through June 2006. Until a new long-term license is approved by FERC, the dam would operate under annual licenses. 

In other business, commissioners:

  • Authorized resolutions related to the construction this year of a new 8.5-mile, 230kV line across Burch Mountain from Rocky Reach Dam to Andrew York Substation near Monitor.
    • A no-cost land exchange with Roger and Stephanie McMahon for a 32-acre access and utility easement across the McMahon’s property for the construction of the new 230kV line across Burch Mountain. The PUD will exchange 7.04 surplus acres.
    • Payment of $86,143 for optical ground wire
    • Payment of $298,122 for aluminum conductor steel reinforced wire 

    ***

    The next regular meeting of the PUD commission will start at 1 p.m., Monday, March 6, in the boardroom of the Headquarters Building, 327 N. Wenatchee Ave.

    Most PUD commission meetings are recorded and a link to the audio is available on the PUD’s Web site, www.chelanpud.org.

    Christy Shearer
    Communications Audio-visual Specialist
    (509) 661-4258
    (509) 421-4258 cell
    christy.shearer@chelanpud.org