Senate action still needed for 6-year building reprieve
By Marcy Stamper
The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill allowing up to six more years for the Okanogan County Public Utility District (PUD) to start construction on Enloe Dam.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-4th District), authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to grant up to three two-year extensions for the PUD to start construction on the 9-megawatt hydroelectric project near Oroville. The bill passed on July 18 after brief comments by lawmakers.
The PUD already obtained one two-year extension from FERC, which expired July 9. FERC is generally not authorized to issue a second extension without an act of Congress, according to Celeste Miller, a spokesperson for the agency. If approved by the Senate, the bill would become law and the extension to build Enloe would be granted, said Miller.
“The proposed Enloe Dam Hydroelectric Project makes economic and environmental sense, as it will convert currently untapped energy in existing flow releases into clean, renewable energy,” said Newhouse in his remarks to the House.
Calling Enloe a “critical hydropower facility,” Newhouse urged his colleagues to support his “common-sense legislation.” He praised the project for its potential to provide the region “with a clean, renewable energy resource that generates an estimated 45,000 megawatt hours per year of carbon-free, renewable power” that will create jobs.
Newhouse’s bill passed in the House under special rules for noncontroversial matters, which reduce the time allotted for debate from one hour to 40 minutes, according to a Congressional spokesperson. Under those rules, a bill must receive a two-thirds majority to pass.
The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on July 19. It currently has no sponsor in the Senate, according to Will Boyington, communications director for Newhouse.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, included the issue of construction deadlines nationwide in the broad Energy and Natural Resources Act. which she and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) reintroduced at the end of June, according to Bryan Watt, press secretary for Cantwell.
The bill would give FERC the ability to extend construction deadlines for several years without requiring an act of Congress for individual projects, said Watt. The bill passed the Senate with wide support in the last term, but was stalled by House Republicans during the conference committee process, he said.
Deadline expired
The PUD is pursuing several routes to buy extra time for Enloe. On June 22, the utility asked FERC for a two-year stay to preserve its license. The utility’s request to FERC said lawsuits had prevented it from moving ahead with the project.
FERC is not permitted to provide another extension, but has occasionally granted a stay in situations where lawsuits challenged the license itself, said Thomas O’Keefe, chair of the Hydropower Reform Coalition, who has worked on energy issues involving FERC licenses for two decades.
O’Keefe attributed the delay to PUD commissioners’ own indecision about whether re-energizing Enloe made sense, and not to litigation.
Twelve conservation groups submitted a letter to FERC opposing the stay on July 11, contending that the PUD has failed to file required engineering and finance plans for Enloe. The letter indicates that the groups intend to submit more substantive information to inform FERC’s decision-making process.
Before the House vote, FERC responded to an inquiry from the chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, explaining that the Federal Power Act allows FERC to grant a single two-year extension. FERC is required to terminate the license if the licensee doesn’t start construction on time, wrote Cheryl LaFleur, the acting chair of FERC. “When this occurs, licensees must turn to Congress for relief,” she said.
FERC has a long-term policy against “site banking,” which limits total extensions to begin construction to no more than 10 years from the original date of a license, wrote LaFleur. Newhouse’s legislation is within that period, since the initial license was issued on July 9, 2013.
FERC has taken no action on the PUD’s request for a stay, said Miller. FERC also has not yet sent the PUD a letter terminating the license.
This inaction is attributable at least in part to the fact that FERC hasn’t had a quorum of commissioners for almost six months. FERC normally has five commissioners, with a minimum of three required for a quorum.
Commissioners serve staggered five-year terms, so one term expires each year. No more than three members may be from the same political party, according to Miller.
Currently, there are two nominations for FERC commissioners pending before the Senate, and President Trump has announced his intention to nominate two additional commissioners, said Miller.
Opposition continues
Newhouse’s bill has spurred a flurry of opposition in Okanogan County, with an online petition addressed to Newhouse and Cantwell. About 30 opponents of the dam attended a special PUD meeting about rate increases earlier this week, and a dozen voiced their concerns about Enloe, said PUD board president Scott Vejraska.
With pressure surrounding the FERC deadline, the Methow Valley Citizens Council weighed in on the project last week, saying the region doesn’t need the power, since the PUD recently reached a new agreement that will provide 170 megawatts of additional power from Wells Dam, more than twice the utility’s current average daily load.
MVCC also said decommissioning the dam would benefit salmon and steelhead by reopening access to prime habitat.
Enloe has long faced opposition from environmental groups and some ratepayers, who say re-energizing the dam is too costly given the small amount of power it will produce.
The PUD’s own numbers found that the project would not break even for about 30 years, when a construction bond will be paid off. Two years ago, the PUD estimated construction would cost $39 million, plus another $12 million already spent on the licensing process.
The coalition that favors removing the dam estimated that removal would cost $35 million.
Over the past several years, the PUD has looked for an entity to build and operate the dam or to remove it. The PUD has made assumption of liability a condition of dam removal, and has said none of the parties interested in removal have provided a guarantee sufficient to protect the PUD.
Since getting the go-ahead from a state board in June to use an expedited design/build process, the PUD has been in negotiations with Yakima-based Mountain States Hydro for design and engineering for Enloe.
The PUD began the current license-application process with FERC a dozen years ago. The utility previously considered re-energizing the dam in the 1980s and 1990s, but the PUD rescinded those licenses because of economic conditions and uncertainty over fish passage.
The PUD acquired Enloe Dam in 1945 but has not produced power there since 1959, when less-expensive power from the Bonneville Power Administration reached the area.
