EWEB moves closer to building $25 million fish ladder at dam.Byline: Jeff Wright Jeff Wright can refer to:
Eugene Water & Electric Board officials appear closer to embracing a gravity-flow fish ladder for upstream-bound fish at Trail Bridge Dam - at a cost of more than $25 million. The utility's commissioners will be asked today to approve a motion to consider a ladder that would either be built through the earthen earth·en adj. 1. Made of earth or clay: an earthen fortification; an earthen pot. 2. Earthly; worldly. dam or around the right bank leading into Trail Bridge Reservoir. EWEB EWEB Eugene Water and Electric Board (Oregon) engineers previously had promoted a plan to trap and haul threatened fish around the dam - at a lower projected cost of $13.4 million - until fish agencies, environmental groups and one of EWEB's own elected officials objected. The trap-and-haul option is listed as the preferred alternative in a license application submitted in November to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the United States federal agency with jurisdiction over electricity sales, wholesale electric rates, hydroelectric licensing, natural gas pricing, and oil pipeline rates. . However, EWEB officials now say they are willing to revise the application to include a fish ladder option Ladder Option An option that locks-in gains once the underlying reaches predetermined price levels or "rungs," guaranteeing some profit even if the underlying security falls back below these levels before the option expires. , after "settlement negotiations" with federal and state fish agencies are completed. Recent analyses conducted by MWH See watt-hour. Engineering Global of Broomfield, Colo., and R2 Resource Con- sultants of Redmond, Wash., have convinced EWEB that a gravity-flow fish ladder is feasible, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. an EWEB memo. A gravity-flow ladder is considered "volitional vo·li·tion n. 1. The act or an instance of making a conscious choice or decision. 2. A conscious choice or decision. 3. The power or faculty of choosing; the will. ," meaning that fish - in particular, the threatened species of bull trout and spring chinook salmon chinook salmon or king salmon Prized North Pacific food and sport fish (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) of the salmon family. The average weight is about 22 lbs (10 kg), but individuals of 50–80 lbs (22–36 kg) are not unusual. - can come and go as they wish. A third ladder option, over the top of the dam, is considered less desirable because it would require constant pumping of water and would not be volitional for fish. EWEB has said that costs related to securing a new 30-year to 50-year license for the Carmen-Smith hydroelectric project could reach $100 million, much of it acquired through ratepayer-financed borrowing. Aside from a ladder for upstream fish, the other big-cost item is a fish screen intended to protect downstream fish at Trail Bridge. The Trail Bridge structures are the final links in the Carmen-Smith project, which consists of three dams and reservoirs, two large water tunnels and a pair of power plants near the McKenzie River's headwaters. EWEB's current federal license for the project expires in November 2008. To help them make priorities, commissioners will complete an exercise today aimed at taking a "triple bottom line" approach - rating the fish passage options on the basis of cost, environmental impact and social and political considerations. UPSTREAM FISH PASSAGE Costs vary for options at Trail Bridge Dam on upper McKenzie Trap and haul: $13.4 million Gravity-flow fish ladder through dam: $25.9 million Gravity-flow fish ladder along one bank: $25.7 million Pump-flow fish ladder over dam: $25.2 million - Eugene Water & Electric Board EWEB MEETING Commissioners to review fish ladder options When/where: 7:30 tonight, EWEB Board Room, 500 E. Fourth Ave. Also on agenda: At 6 p.m., a discussion on public access to College Hill reservoir More information: 484-2411 or www.eweb.org |
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