Chelan County PUD is in the process of obtaining a new license to operate the Lake Chelan Hydroelectric Project. The process is referred to as relicensing. As specified by federal regulations, owners of hydro projects are required to begin relicensing between 5 and 5 ½ years before the existing license expires.
The Traditional Method.
The traditional relicensing process consists of a 3 ½ year consultation/study process
conducted by the owner of the project, followed by a 2-to-7 year environmental review
process conducted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). As part of the
environmental review phase, FERC produces a draft Environmental Assessment. If the
assessment determines that the proposed Project will cause significant impacts to the
environment, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is required. In the past, these two
phases of the process were conducted independent of each other.
The Alternative Relicensing Process.
On October 29, 1997 FERC issued new regulations that allow both phases (consultation
and environmental review) to be done at the same time. This new method, the Alternative
Relicensing Process, differs from the traditional process in several ways:
- Combines into a single process the consultation process and the environmental review process.
- Allows for an applicant prepared preliminary draft Environmental Assessment.
- Promotes cooperative efforts by the applicant and interested parties early in the relicensing process and encourages them to share information about resource impacts and mitigation and enhancement proposals. This includes reaching agreement or settlements of the issues.
- Facilitates greater participation by and improved communication among the applicant, resource agencies, Indian tribes, the public and FERC staff in a flexible consultation process.
- Enhances communication efforts with FERC and all interested parties, including settlements when possible, early in the relicensing process.
Alternative Relicensing Process Advantages:
- Local, state and regional ownership and decisions.
- All stakeholders involved in the process early on.
- Reduces possibility of unnecessary studies and need for additional information requests.
- Reduces the license processing phase to approximately one year by allowing the draft environmental assessment to be produced by the applicant during the pre-filing consultation process.
- Shorter processing means less potential for data to become outdated.
- FERC review and acceptance of application completed sooner.
- FERC staff better informed and attuned to local positions.
- Environmental measures implemented sooner.
Balancing Resource Values.
In preparing its license application and Comprehensive Settlement Agreement, Chelan County PUD
balanced the
many resource values provided by the Lake Chelan Project. This process
considered:
- Water use and quality
- Aesthetic resources
- Land use
- Water use
- Fish, wildlife and botanical resources
- Energy resources
- Socioeconomic factors
- Recreation resources
- Cultural resources
- Geology and soils
The Relicensing Schedule.
In October of 1998, Chelan County PUD submitted a notice of intent to relicense the Lake
Chelan Hydro Project. During 1998, Chelan County PUD consulted with resource agencies and
other interested parties (stakeholders) regarding the proposed relicensing process,
descriptions of the existing project, extent of engineering work, and proposed
environmental, historical, archaeological, recreational and land use studies. Information
obtained from these meetings, along with written comments provided by stakeholders, was
used to prepare an environmental scoping document.
Chelan County PUD began conducting studies in 1999. On March 28, 2002, Chelan County PUD submitted a final license application and environmental assessment for the Lake Chelan Project. In October, 2003, Chelan PUD submitted a Comprehensive Settlement Agreement with federal, state and local stakeholders. FERC is currently reviewing the Agreement and may issue a new license for the Project as soon as this summer. The Lake Chelan Project's current license expired on March 31, 2004. Chelan PUD is currently operating the Project on annual extensions of the license until FERC issues the new long-term license, which is expected this summer.