Washington's Department of Ecology on Dec. 30 adopted revisions to its water quality standards that will allow operators of the eight lower dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers and five mid-Columbia dams to increase spill that would create up to 125 percent total dissolved gas saturation du… Read More
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FERC on Dec. 19 turned away requests from four environmental groups for a rehearing of its Aug. 13 decision to terminate Okanogan PUD's license for the 9 MW Enloe Dam project, located on the Similkameen River near Oroville, Wash. [P-12569]. Read More
President Donald Trump on Dec. 20 signed into law a fiscal year 2020 tax and spending bill for domestic agencies that extends a handful of expired energy tax preferences, including for hydro. The bill, HR 1865, set domestic spending levels for the remainder of FY 2020. Stopgap funding legisl… Read More
Reactions to Washington state's newly released draft report examining the positive and negative impacts of removing the four lower Snake River dams are as varied as the views represented in the report itself. Read More
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Jan. 14 released the Central Valley Project Final Cost Allocation Study, ending years of uncertainty regarding the costs of both water and power for its users. The report will likely reshape obligations owed the federal government by agricultural, industrial… Read More
Dismantling or breaching the four lower Snake River dams would add 1.2 million tons of CO2 and other harmful emissions annually to the atmosphere, and cost more than $2.3 billion over the next 30 years, according to a study commissioned by the Pacific Northwest Waterway Association (PNWA). Read More
After years of delay, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has until Jan. 29 to develop and issue technical documents outlining the causes of high water temperatures in the lower Snake and Columbia rivers, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. Read More
For the first time anywhere, biologists hope to track juvenile salmon and steelhead as they migrate downstream over a high-velocity spillway at the Snake River's Lower Granite Dam next spring, officials say. Read More
Electric-power groups and companies on Dec. 3 filed arguments for and against FERC's proposal to revamp implementation of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act. Read More
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to apply for a pollution discharge permit for Chief Joseph Dam, track the amount of lubricants it uses there, and study and use environmentally friendlier lubricants at the dam when feasible. Read More
After the first manual measurement of the Sierra Nevada snowpack for 2020, conducted Jan. 2, the California Department of Water Resources said the accumulation level is "good," but just below normal for this time of year. Read More
Some of the cleanest electricity in the country flows through BPA's balancing authority, according to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read More
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court ruling on how long states have to weigh in on water quality certifications for federal projects. Read More
FERC is being sued in federal appeals court for barring protests that it did not terminate the 1.3 GW Eagle Mountain pumped storage hydro project planned for Riverside County, Calif., near Joshua Tree National Park. Read More
Idaho Power is asking an Oregon judge to dismiss a lawsuit in Multnomah County brought by two conservation groups challenging the issuance of a water quality certification for the utility's Hells Canyon Complex. Read More
Developers of the proposed Goldendale pumped storage hydroelectric project submitted a draft license application to FERC on Dec. 13. Read More