For the last two years, the Okanogan PUD has agreed to allow a Feasibility Assessment to be conducted on removing Enloe Dam from the Similkameen River. The results of that study will be available to the public in the Fall of 2024. You can see updates on the progress towards completion by visiting:
https://www.enloefeasibilityassessment.com/updates In the mid-1990s, Columbiana learned that the Okanogan PUD was considering the reelectrification of Enloe Dam on the Similkameen River. The dam sat in the river, not producing power, since 1958 blocking any passage up or down the river by aquatic life. Area Indigenous groups favored removal of the dam and return the river to a free-flowing International river. The PUD was unable to see its way economically to retrofit the dam to generate power at this time, but wanted to leave the dam in the river as they considered it an asset that could produce power some time in the future. Their belief in its value persisted until 2018 when their staff convinced the three commissioners to abandon electrification plans. From 2004 to the present, Columbiana has worked with Hydro Reform Coalition and other NGOs (Trout Unlimited, American Rivers, American Whitewater, Sierra Club, Conservation NW, Center for Law and Policy, Audubon Society), as well as Lower and Upper Similkameen Indian Bands, Colville Confederated Tribes, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, National Marine Fisheries, Bureau of Land Management, and Department of Ecology to encourage the Okanogan PUD to remove Enloe Dam from the Similkameen River that no longer produced power, but blocks access to up and down movement of aquatic fauna and flora in the river. In 2016, Columbiana was awarded a grant from Patagonia to do outreach to ratepayers of Okanogan PUD to make them aware of why re-energizing Enloe Dam was not a wise use of ratepayers’ funds. The PUD had signed a contract with Azwell Dam on the Columbia River giving them more access to less costly power that they needed, making power from Enloe’s production too expensive. Columbiana wanted to produce a video about why Enloe needed to be removed from the river with part of their grant from Patagonia, and so, in 2019, Rick started writing a script and collecting video clips and hired Leslee Goodman of Alchemy on Demand as the film editor. The film, “Restoring the Similkameen: Origins of a Mighty River,” was to be in two parts which finally were joined together. It is viewable on Columbiana’s YouTube channel. |