Summer spills top $70 million
This story was published Thursday, November 3rd, 2005
By Chris Mulick, Herald Olympia bureau

A multi-agency analysis of this year's court-ordered summer spill program at five federal dams indicates it cost Northwest ratepayers almost $75 million and raises questions about the biological value of spills in August.

The report said that while fish survival rates were strong, it's too early to judge the effect on fish runs and that the Bonneville Power Administration's recent 1.6 percent power rate cut would have been 6 percent without the program.

It also went so far as to suggest 1.4 million tons in increased nitrogen, sulfur and carbon emissions "may have occurred" from thermal plants that otherwise may not have run without the power void created by spilling water over dams instead of running it through turbines.

This comes as conservation and fishing groups, which have successfully sued the federal government over its river operations plan for salmon, are asking a judge for even tougher spill requirements for 2006. They not only are asking that more water be spilled more often, they're also pushing for new flow requirements that could curtail late winter generation to save water for release in the late spring and early summer.

2005 spill program disputed

U.S. District Judge James Redden's order required dam operators to spill all water not needed to power basic plant operations at the four lower Snake River dams from June 20 through Aug. 31 and all flows above 50,000 cubic feet per second at McNary Dam on the Columbia River from July 1 to Aug. 31.

The analysis of that program, compiled by Bonneville, NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers, indicate fish survival rates ranged between 86 percent to 96 percent at the projects. But it cautioned that multiyear study of adult returns would be needed to declare spill a better option than trucking or barging fish downriver.

Environmentalists pleased

Nonetheless, environmental groups hailed the results and Save Our Wild Salmon declared the program a "biological success."

The analysis also said nearly all subyearlings had passed Lower Monumental Dam, the third of the five dams affected, by July 31. That left dam operators spilling water for a full month without many fish to benefit, forgoing power revenues during one of the most lucrative months on the calendar.

"There appear to be very few fish in the river during August," said Bonneville spokesman Mike Hansen. "You have to wonder if that is the most cost-effective way to improve survival rates."

But Andrew Englander, an associate policy director for Save Our Wild Salmon, said the fish remaining in the river at that time tend to be from the same subsections of wild fish. For example, wild fall chinook migrating from the Clearwater River tend to be among the last migrants.
"You have to protect the diversity of these fish," he said.

The agencies estimated the final cost to ratepayers, mostly in the form of lost surplus power sales, ranged from $73.2 million to $74.5 million. That's enough to have provided a 6 percent rate decrease instead of the 1.6 percent cut that went into effect Oct. 1, Bonneville said.

"The scientific benefits are uncertain. The costs are pretty clear and pretty large," said Terry Flores, director of the Northwest River Partners, a coalition of Bonneville customers.

The program also reduced operating reserves needed to maintain system reliability and flexibility.

"These system impacts increased the risk that the region would not be able to respond to major Northwest or West Coast-wide power system incidents," the report said.

The analysis further indicated the curtailed hydro generation placed additional stress on the regional transmission grid and may have required thermal plants to run more often, generating more emissions, a contention that didn't sit well with environmentalists.

"I think that it's disingenuous of Bonneville as an arm of the federal government to be making a claim about worsening greenhouse gas emissions when the administration it represents cares nothing about that issue," said Marc Krasnowsky, a spokesman for the Northwest Energy Coalition. "I don't know where they have the moral standing."

Additional spill, flows called for

While interest groups debate the merits of this year's summer spill program, conservation groups asked Redden this week to require additional spill in 2006 during the spring and summer migration periods. Additionally, they've asked that he require reservoirs to be filled to the maximum elevation allowed beginning Feb. 1 to provide more reliable flows in spring and early summer for migrating fish.

If granted, those measures could cost electric ratepayers even more. Besides additional power sales lost to increased spill, the flow requirements could push Bonneville out onto the wholesale power market in the winter to secure supplies for its customer utilities.

"You can imagine the price for power Bonneville might have to pay," Flores said.

Bonneville is trying to assess what effect such measures would have not only on power generation but also on operation of the transmission grid, where other complications could arise.