Description
The Project is located on the Pend Oreille River 34.4 miles above its confluence with the Columbia. Average flow at the dam site is 26,244 cfs. The highest recorded flood was 171,000 cfs with a mean average flood stage of 79,445 cfs. The 46 foot high dam is made of reinforced concrete with an integral spillway. The 8,850 acre reservoir is 55.7 miles long and has a maximum operating water level is 2030.6 feet and a fluctuation of 3 feet. It is a run-of-the-river facility. Albeni Falls Dam, an Army Corps of Engineers project, controls water flow rates 57 miles upstream. There are four generating units on the Project, which produce 60 MW at full load at a total flow of 27,500 cfs. Its peak capacity is 78 MW. In 1998, Box generated 498,970,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. The City of Seattle is the licensee for the Boundary Hydroelectric Project downstream of the Box Canyon facility.
The PUD entered a settlement agreement for the amendment of their license in 1998 for the remainder of the current license (2002) with a value of $7.436 million. These agreements include $1.137 million to the Kalispell Tribe (plus rent), $2.5 million for wildlife habitat acquisition, protection, mitigation and enhancement projects, $200,000 for erosion control measures, $900,000 for O&M at 3 Forest Service developed sites, and $75,000/year for milfoil control.
Issues
Map
Milestones
| Date | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| 7/11/2005 | License Issued |
News Related to Box Canyon
Box Canyon License Issued
On July 11th, 2005, the Commission issued a new license for the Box Canyon Project on the Pend Oreille River in northeastern Washington and Idaho. The issuance brought a conclusion to the licensing phase of this project's extended history as a poster child for combative licensing processes. The license adopts mandatory conditions, including fish passage, submitted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Washington Department of Ecology, and the United States Forest Service.
