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CSPA and Foothills Water Network submit comments on study plans for the Yuba-Bear/Drum-Spaulding relicensing

December 24, 2008 -- CSPA, in association with several other conservation groups and individuals, submitted comments today on proposed study plans for the Yuba-Bear/Drum-Spaulding (YBDS) relicensing. This process is being conducted “cooperatively” by licensees Nevada Irrigation District and Pacific Gas & Electric Co., and has been underway for about a year.

The Foothills Water Network (FWN) was formed in 2005 to prepare for several relicensings in the Yuba, Bear and American River watersheds, as well as to address other water issues in these areas. Within the YBDS relicensing, CSPA acts as a Foothills Water Network partner, to economize on effort, combine resources, provide conservation interests a collective voice, and when appropriate provide leadership to FWN’s less active or experienced groups or individuals.

CSPA played a significant role in coordinating, writing and assembling these FWN comments. You can read the comments Here.

Background

Every thirty to fifty years, operators of hydroelectric projects that are not owned by the federal government are required by relicense their projects through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC’s official relicensing process is called the Integrated Licensing Process (ILP). The ILP sets out specific timelines and milestones which participants in the relicensing (project licensees, regulatory agencies, conservation groups and other non-governmental organizations, local stakeholders, and other interested parties) must meet. The process takes about five years.

Early in the process, participants decide on studies that will be conducted so that project impacts on resources (including water and fish) can be evaluated. There are commonly thirty to forty studies that are conducted. The format for proposed study plans is laid out by FERC. Disagreements often occur over the cost (borne by the licensees), the extent, the geographic scope, and the reports that are associated with each study.

Over the last six years, an unofficial paradigm has also been established in California relicensings. Resource agencies pool their resources to address and jointly respond to various requirements of the ILP. Cooperation between the resource agencies and NGO stakeholders has also become increasingly common.

The Foothills Water Network was established to facilitate cooperation among conservation interests in the Yuba, Bear and American River watersheds. These watersheds are highly engineered, with dozens of reservoirs and diversions, and twenty powerhouses. FWN has worked to improve understanding among conservations interests of these hydrologic systems, and to promote effective, cooperative actions in relicensing hydro projects and in other water-related processes. In the Yuba-Bear/Drum Spaulding relicensing, FWN is in many respects similar to the Resource Agency caucus, allowing conservation interests to pool their resources and talents to present a unified response to the numerous demands of the ILP.

Like many coalitions, FWN is composed of parties who share many fundamental values. However, participation by CSPA or any other entity within the Foothill Water Network does not imply agreement on any points or policies other than those that are explicitly documented.