Court orders that BPA to continue summer water spill for fish

Seattle (Platts)--30Dec2005

The Bonneville Power Administration must continue spilling water over
Columbia Basin dams next summer to aid migrating fish. It also must extend the
time for releasing the water, a federal court in Portland, Oregon, ruled
Thursday. The ruling will affect power generation next year. 

     BPA has barged fish past some dams to avoid forcing fish through
spillways. Environmentalists, led by the National Wildlife Federation, have
filed suit to oppose this and other water-management practices. Judge James
Redden said the science BPA and other federal agencies used in deciding to
barge fish was inconclusive. 

     For the past several summers, the judge has sided with NWF's requests
that BPA spill more water for endangered salmon. 

     BPA has not yet placed a cost on the generation it will lose, but last
summer BPA said the fish program caused rates to rise about 2% to 3% beginning
Oct 1. BPA pegged that cost at about $75-mil. River operations to balance the
needs of fish and hydropower are outlined in the Biological Opinion issued by
the National Marine Fisheries Service, the US Army Corps of Engineers, US
Bureau of Reclamation and BPA.  

     In October, Judge Redden told the federal agencies to submit a new river
plan within one year. BPA is trying to reach a regional consensus on how to
operate the Columbia and Snake river dams so it is not subject to lawsuits
each year.

     For more information, take a trial to Platts Electricity Alert at
http://electricityalert.platts.com.

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