What may be the nation’s largest dam removal project—delayed for years by regulatory and legal disputes of a utility, stakeholders and states over licensing and environmental permits—now may have new momentum after a hard-hitting January federal appeals court ruling.
Kiewit基础设施西部，花岗岩建筑和巴纳德建设均为4亿美元的项目设计和解构在加利福尼亚州和俄勒冈州克拉马斯河上的四个水力电压。
Klamath River Renewal Corp.（KRRC），以监督水坝的拆除，表示它将在春季选择一个承包商进行项目。工作可以在明年开始，并于2021年完成。该项目包括2亿美元的Pacificorp，Dams私人实用业主运营商的融资，加州债券高达2.5亿美元。
The dams—J.C. Boyle in Oregon and Copco I, Copco II and Iron Gate in California—were built between 1918 and 1962 and have an aggregate hydroelectric capacity of 43 MW but are operating at less than one-third of that and would be costly to upgrade. Three dams on the upper Klamath River in Oregon will remain operating. The Klamath dams produce a total of 169 MW, says PacifiCorp.
长期的佐贺
The removal project stems from a settlement among Oregon, California and PacifiCorp reached in 2016 after years of squabble over environmental conditions since the utility began in 2004 to relicense the dams before transferring them to KRRC. The license expired in 2006, with the dams operating under interim annual licenses since.
州有一个statutory deadline to complete a "certification" under Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act within one year of a license application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), required because of discharges into the water.
PacifiCorp and the states had been agreeing to defer the deadline since 2006 by annually withdrawing and refiling the application. Doing so kept FERC from waiving the states’ authority to issue the environmental certification.
But the Hoopa Valley tribe, whose reservation is downstream from the dams, in 2014 went to court after FERC declined its requests for a judgement on the annual certification delay tactic. The tribe raised concerns about rising removal and river reclamation costs that the delays were causing, and the capped project funding under the 2016 agreement.
许可证持有“hostage”
在1月25日决定，华盛顿，D.C.联邦上诉法院驳回了FERC方法，并将案件归因于该机构进行新批准。
The court sided with the tribe saying the withdrawal and resubmission scheme could not be used to indefinitely delay the federal licensing process. The court said it is “commonplace” for states to use Section 401 “to hold federal licenses hostage.”
Its opinion said that of 43 license applications pending at FERC, 27 are awaiting water quality certification by states and “four of those for more than a decade.”
The court ruled that a state waives its statutory authority by deferring review. “Section 401 was intended by Congress to curb state’s unreasonable delay,” the court said.
"Had FERC properly interpreted Section 401 and found waiver ... more than a decade ago, decommissioning of the project might very well be underway,” noted the ruling.
But the decision now will not affect the four dams because Oregon submitted its final environmental certification last September while California in late December issued a draft impact report that said removing the dams and restoring the surrounding area would result in “significantly more benefits” than continuing to operate them.
关于加州报告的公众评论结束于2月底结束。
FERC told KRRC on Jan. 23 that it expects by April 29修订后的最终项目成本估计，如果成本超过国家成本上限和项目协议草案，则增加资金的“计划B”。新利18备用官网登录The dam removal firm also will submit its Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) six to eight months after the project agreement is signed.
Under the original restoration plan, 400 miles of upstream habitat for salmon and steelhead trout will be restored, says a KRRC spokesman.
在其环境认证草案中，加利福尼亚州表示，坝移除将消除毒素，减少溶解的氧气浓度和河流的最终pH波动。
该州表示，短期不利影响包括从储层降展的沉积物排放，但长期效应会改善水质，缓解疾病的疾病风险。
其他项目许可影响？
但一些观察者还可以看到上诉裁决对需要国家环境许可的其他项目可能的影响。新利18备用网址
西方国家水电改革联盟主任Kelly Catlett告诉Rean裁决对其他项目的影响是“灰色”，因为案件狭隘的问题，“将取决于Ferc以及侵略性[它]在其他地方。新利18备用”新利18备用网址
其他人不同意。
Attorneys Sharon White and Michael Swiger of Washington, D.C.-based Van Ness Feldman, in aJan. 28 analysis, say California and other states have put in place a comprehensive environmental review process as part of Section 401 decisions that take longer than one year.
With the ruling, FERC now appears "to have a mandate to reassert control over and shorten the length of the licensing process,” they said.
该裁决可能会影响FERC煤气管道认证，美国军队工程师挖掘机挖掘机和填补许可和其他联邦允许，涉及涉及需要清洁除水法认证的通航水域。
法院意见的影响“远远超出了FERC水力发电许可”，“白雪侠说。
