Welcome to Columbiana Magazine

Oroville. On Tuesday, January 24, 2012, the Columbia Bioregional Education Project (Columbiana), joined by several conservation groups, issued a new economic analysis of Okanogan Public Utility District's (PUD) proposal to restart hydropower generation at Enloe Dam on the Similkameen River. The analysis, prepared by Rocky Mountain Econometrics (RME) of Boise, ID, concludes that it is not possible for the PUD to sell power from Enloe Dam at or above the cost of producing it, and that the PUD will lose $26 for every megawatt hour produced at the dam.

Click to go to Enloe Dam Page or Enloe Economic Report

More information about the Hydropower Reform Coalition and member groups, as well as Recent History of Enloe Dam Relicensing and Similkameen Falls Picture Record. Here you can view booklet on the Similkameen River Trail to Enloe Dam.

Newspaper articles:
Wenatchee World, 1.25.12
Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune,1.26.12
Editorial, Okanogan Valley Gazette Tribune, 1.26.12
Omak Chronicle, 1.25.12
Methow Valley News, 2.15.12

Comments from the Public:
Joseph Enzensperger
Melissa Rose
Julie Ashmore
Jon Knecktel
Okanogan Commissioners

Addiional articles of interest:

The Pacific Lamprey, close to extinction, could
bring down Northwest salmon too.

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1. The PUD will spend over $2 million in 2012 for Enloe Dam, even though they have not produced an updated cost/benefit analysis for the project since 2007, and it is not clear the project will be a sound eonomic investment.

2. The PUD is pushing ahead with Enloe Dam without obtaining the approval of the ratepayers, even while the PUD has tripled the long term debt of the PUD in the last three years, and angered the ratepayers with large rate increases.

3. The PUD has not recalculated projected costs for re-building the power producing facilities. The initial estimate of $28 milion was calculated in 2007, nearly five years ago. A fiscal evaluation of the PUD's costs forecasts construction costs of $40 million.

4. The value of the power produced at the proposed Enloe Dam has declined by more than one-half since the original 2007 estimate of $66/MWhr.

5. The PUD has told the public that Enloe power will qualify to be "green power" under the state's Initiative 937, Requirements for New Energy Resources, and thus have an increased value, but our investigations show that Enloe power does not qualify now, nor will it likely qualify in the future.

6. The bulk of Enloe power will be produced in the spring when the northwest market already has a glut of cheaper power available.

7. Enloe Dam facilities will destroy the scenic values of the Similkameen Falls canyon which is a feature of great value on the new Similkameen River Trail, part of the Pacific Northwest Trail. Thus the dam could reduce tourism revenues associated with trail use in north Okanogan County.

8. Enloe Dam is 90 years old. How long do concreate walls last? The dam is a liability for its owners. This is why the BLM, owner of the dam site, wants dam removed if the license is not awarded or the PUD decides not to build the new power generating facilities.

9. If the dam is removed, the Similkameen River will become a valuable steelhead fishing river. The fisheries agencies do not consider Similkameen Falls to be a barrier to fish migration during the spring freshet.

Enloe Dam on the Similkameen River could be licensed to resume power production after 50 years of inactivity, sometime in 2012. The Okanogan PUD is nearly finished with its required reports to FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC has issued a final Environmental Assessment greenlighting the project.

Conservation Groups, including American Rivers, American Whitewater, Sierra Club, CELP, and Columbiana, working together as the Hydropower Coalition, are official parties to the FERC licensing procedure.

A final permit, the 401 for water quality, has just received the last round of scoping comments, and could be issued by the WA State Dept of Ecology.

Two major issues await resolution. The 54 foot Enloe Dam completely blocks fish passage for steelhead, salmon and lamprey into the upper portion of the 3,600 sq. mile Similkameen Basin. Fish passage on the Similkameen has been proposed as mitigation for fish habitat losses incurred with Grand Coulee Dam since 1941. Enloe Fish Passage was authorized by Congress in 1976. In particular the endangered Upper Columbia River Steelhead would benefit from the large increase in upstream spawning and rearing habitat. Given the recent decision by Judge Redden that more habitat must be secured for listed stocks, fish passage at Enloe Dam is the best opportunity in the upper Columbia River region to secure the wild native steelhead stock. Spring Chinook salmon and Pacific Lamprey are also at extreme risk and would gain significant habitat opportunities above Enloe Dam.

The second major issue is loss of scenic values in the canyon which holds Enloe Dam and the Similkameen Falls. This site is now a destination viewpoint for the new Similkameen River Trail, a segment of the PNT, Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail.

The design of the new facilities calls for diverting the Similkameen from its riverbed, piping into turbines to make electricity, then returned to the riverbed below Similkameen Falls. A 400 foot section of the river, referred to as the “by-pass” reach, will be dewatered for eight months of the year; reducing flows from median 500 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 30 and 10 cfs. Conservation groups are calling for more water over Similkameen Falls, citing the requirements of the Clean Water Act to protect aesthetic uses of a river.

This license for Enloe Dam is the 4th request by the Okanogan PUD since Enloe was taken out of operation in 1958, because costs of continued operation outweighed the economic benefits of producing power at the dam. Three previous licenses have been rejected by FERC because the dam would have not been economically viable, especially given the requirements of fish passage.

In January, Conservation Groups sponsored an economic evaluation of the PUD’s costs and benefit statement for Enloe, which was produced in 2007. The analysis, by Rocky Mountain Econometrics (RME), shows that Enloe Dam will be an economic loss for the PUD. It will not be possible to produce power at Enloe for less than the costs, and for less than the open market price for power. RME’s analysis also pointed out the potential loss of tourism revenue from scenic viewing of Similkameen Falls on the new Similkameen River Trail.

Enloe Dam is 90 years old. It has not produced power in 50 years. If PUD does not license and build this time, BLM, which owns the land Enloe sits on, wants a study of dam removal.

If the dam comes down, the Similkameen River will run free its entire 320 mile length – and welcome home the native fish. —Jere Gillespie

Land & Community in the Intermountain Northwest

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Report Shows Enloe Dam To Be Economic Loss

Columbia River Bioregion