CSPA
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
“Conserving California’s Fisheries"

Home

More News

Your 501(c)(3) tax deductible cash donations are desperately needed if the fight for our fisheries is to continue. Read how you can donate!
Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon Enter your Email address to sign up 
for our Weekly Newsletter
For Email Marketing you can trust
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

More News

 

horizontal rule

 

CSPA Comments on Draft 401 for Oroville Dam Hydro Project Relicensing

 

by Chris Shutes, CSPA Ferc Projects Director

August 2, 2009 -- CSPA has filed comments with the State Water Resources Control Board on a Draft 401 Water Quality Certification for the Oroville Dam relicensing. A water quality certification is required under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act before a hydroelectric project can be granted a new license by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Draft 401 was made available to CSPA and other parties by the State Board in mid-July.
 
In its comments, CSPA commends State Board Staff for defining and requiring standards of enforceability, timeliness, and protection of beneficial uses in the new project license. Such standards were not consistently met in the Oroville Settlement Agreement, to which CSPA is not a party.
 
Less positively, the Draft 401 accepts some of the inadequacies of the Environmental Impact Report issued by the Department of Water Resources to support the 401 Certification. The EIR generally treats Oroville in separation from the rest of the State Water Project, for which Oroville is the largest storage reservoir. The EIR for the Oroville relicensing is being challenged in court by Butte County and Plumas County.
 
Because neither the EIR nor the Draft 401 look downstream at future water demands, no requirements are placed on DWR for maintaining a cold water pool in Oroville that is adequate to project fish in the Feather River downstream of the dam. The Draft 401 refers to a “normal operation of Project 2100” without analyzing how it may be different under changing regulatory, water supply, or climatic conditions. As a result, “the Draft 401 fails to protect beneficial uses because it leaves the cold water management of Oroville Reservoir without definition and enforceability.”


[link to comment letter]

 

[link to Butte Co. comments]