Regardless of the name (micro, low-power, run-of-river, diversion or impoundment) or the size, all dams disrupt flows, degrade water quality block the movement of a rivers vital nutrients and sediment, destroy fish and wildlife habitat, and eliminate recreational opportunities. All dams require roads, transmission lines, facility construction (powerhouse, dam, and tailrace) and most likely clear cutting of trees. The new focus on low-power dams can be especially damaging as they often target small creeks and streams situated in wilderness, roadless, headwater and old growth areas.
As of December 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) lists 27 separate issued or pending preliminary permits for conventional new dam construction in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington (another 19 in Alaska). Rivers such as Ruth Creek and White River in Washington, the Deschutes in Oregon, East and West Rosebud Creek, Montana, and the Bear River in Idaho (the permit for the new Bear River Narrows Dam is just miles downstream of the unproductive Cove dam which was removed in 2006. In addition to the number of new Northwest conventional dams proposals, there are another 36 issued or pending permits for new hydrokinetic (wave, tidal or current) and pumped storage projects, and for adding generation to irrigation canals and non-power dams (irrigation and flood control). According to FERC, they issued more than 500 preliminary permits in 2008 and 2009 for the construction of new hydropower projects (all types). During the previous two years the agency had issued 122 permits.
Below are permit application interventions filed by Coalition members in Washington State for new projects on Ruth, Swamp, Martin and Barclay Creeks in the North Cascades area, as well as the Coalition primer on the impacts of low-power dams.
[North in British Columbia, more than 778 permits have been proposed or awarded since 2002 when BC Hydro began outsourcing permits to Independent Power Producers, an 1140% increase in run-of-river projects]