Public comment period opens on Avista dam relicensing

The public has 60 days to comment on a draft environmental impact statement regarding Avista Corp.’s application to relicense its Spokane River dams in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission document, issued Thursday, evaluates Avista’s application and includes the views of government agencies, Indian tribes, members of the public, Avista Corp., and commission staff.

“At first blush, it doesn’t look like it was that far from what was proposed,” said Avista spokesman Hugh Imhof, of the FERC staff’s response to the company’s proposal.

The Post Falls dam relicensing involves issues including Lake Coeur d’Alene water levels, water quality in the lake and the river, fishery resources, cultural resources, shoreline erosion, wetlands and riparian areas.

The company’s proposal includes maintaining certain river levels year-round, developing and implementing plans to monitor discharge and water temperatures, contributing money to erosion control, creating a habitat protection program for westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout and other programs.

The four other Spokane River dams raise issues including dissolved oxygen levels, fish habitat and wetlands. Other issues include aesthetic flows through downtown Spokane, river flows for whitewater recreation, protection of bald eagles and control of noxious weeds.

Running parallel to the relicensing process is a legal battle between Avista Corp. and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, which owns the southern third of Lake Coeur d’Alene and has placed demands on the company involving stream restoration, fish-count studies, protection of tribal artifacts and erosion control.

Avista officials have said that meeting tribal demands could cost the regulated utility $400 million over the next 50 years, money that would eventually be charged to regional ratepayers. The tribe has called the company’s cost estimate excessive and an attempt to pit ratepayers against tribal interests.

An administrative law judge is expected to rule in early January on possible mandatory conditions that could be attached to a renewed license to operate the Post Falls dam. The tribe’s attorney, Howard Funke, had no comment Friday on the environmental impact statement as he hadn’t had a chance to review it.