Appendix B: Hydroelectric Development Conditions 



Future 



Hydroelectric 



Development 



Much of this program has focused 

 on mitigating damage done to 

 Columbia Ri\er Basin fish and \\ ild- 

 Hfe by hydropow er development and 

 operations in the past. But the future 

 is equally important. The Corps of 

 Engineers and the Bureau of Recla- 

 mation continue to study the need for 

 additional federal hydroelectric proj- 

 ects and to plan for new development 

 in the basin. The Federal Energy Reg- 

 ulaton. Commission has many per- 

 mits and applications pending for 

 hydroelectric development in Idaho, 

 Oregon, Montana and Washington. 

 Many of those applications and per- 

 mits are for projects throughout the 

 Columbia Ri\er Basin. Dozens of 

 small or medium-sized hydroelectric 

 projects are proposed for tributary 

 drainage basins that contain impor- 

 tant anadromous fish habitat. How- 

 ever, most new hydroelectric develop- 

 ment will be accomplished by private 

 or non-federal public entities licensed 

 by the Federal Energy Regulatory 

 Commission. 



Many of the proposals are 

 for hydroelectric projects that would 

 produce less than 5 megawatts of 

 electricity. Although individual small 

 projects may have no significant 

 adverse effects on the fish and w ildlife 

 resources of the basin, the cumulative 

 effects of such development through- 

 out a ri\er basin could be quite harm- 

 ful. These cumulative etYccts need to 

 be taken into account fully. 



The Council estimates that 

 4,600 stream miles of C olumbia 

 River Basin salmon and steelhead 

 spawning and rearing habitat have 

 been lost to development, not mclud- 

 ing losses of migration routes and 

 of resident fish and wildlife habitat. 

 Minimizing further habitat loss is 

 especially important in view of the 

 Council's goal of doubling salmon 

 and steelhead runs in the Columbia 



River Basin consistent with system 

 policies (see Sections 2 and 4). 

 Development in critical fish and 

 wildlife areas leads to divisive and 

 expensive conflicts that the Council 

 believes can be avoided through 

 resource planning. 



The Council finds that future 

 hydroelectric developers in the basin 

 should be required to mitigate harm 

 to fish and wildlife and has adopted 

 program measures calling for such 

 mitigation. New hydroelectric devel- 

 opment has the potential to cause fur- 

 ther damage to the basin's fish and 

 wildlife resources as well as to negate 

 ongoing Council effbils to remedy 

 damage caused by the existing hydro- 

 power system. Federal agencies also 

 should assess and mitigate the cumu- 

 lative effects on fish and wildlife of 

 multiple hydroelectric projects. 



The Council also intends to 

 continue to review applications for 

 Federal Energy Regulatory Commis- 

 sion pemiits and licenses and for 

 Corps of Engineers and Bureau of 

 Reclamation proposals for hydroelec- 

 tric development. The puipose of this 

 review is to identify program mea- 

 sures related to the proposed devel- 

 opment to ensure that any new devel- 

 opment in the basin is consistent with 

 this tish and wildlife program and 

 the Council's Northwest Power Plan. 

 The Council's reviews would com- 

 plement and recognize, not supplant, 

 the role of the fish and wildlife agen- 

 cies and tribes in reviewing proposals 

 for hydroelectric projects. 



1. FUTURE HYDROELEC- 

 TRIC DEVELOPMENT 



Conditions 



Federal Fneifjy Rejjulatory 

 Commission, Corps of Engi- 

 neers, Bureau of Reclamation 

 and Bonne\ille 



Do not license, exempt from license, 

 relicense, propose, recommend, agree 

 to acquire or wheel power from, grant 

 billing credits lor, or othenv ise support 

 any hydroelectric development in the 

 Columbia River Basin without specifi- 

 cally pro\ iding for these development 

 conditions: 



• Consultation with the fish man- 

 agers and the Council throughout 

 study, design, constniction and 

 operation of the project; 



• Specific plans for flows and fish 

 facilities prior to construction: 



• The best available means for 

 aiding downstream and upstream 

 passage of anadromous and resi- 

 dent fish; 



• Flows and reservoir levels of 

 sufficient quantity and quality 

 to protect spawning, incubation, 

 rearing and migration; 



• Full coinpensation for unavoid- 

 able fish losses or fish habitat 

 losses through habitat restoration 

 or replacement, appropriate prop- 

 agation, or similar measures con- 

 sistent with the provisions of this 

 program; 



• Assurance that the project will 

 not inundate the usual and accus- 

 tomed, traditional or contempo- 

 rary fishing places of any tribe 

 without tribal approval; 



• Assurance that the project will 

 not degrade fish habitat or reduce 

 numbers offish in such a way 

 that the exercise of treaty or 

 executive order tribal rights will 

 be dmiinished: 



• Assurance that all fish protection 

 measures are fiilly operational at 

 the lime the project begins opera- 

 tion; 



• 1 he collection of data needed to 



B-1 



2000 Columbia river Basin Fish and Wildlife Program 



