Hydropower Reform Coalition - FERC

Using the Integrated Licensing Process: Lessons Learned

Rupak Thapaliya — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:56:17 -0600

Source: Hydro Review

Volume:

Year: 2008

Abstract

Hydro project owners share experiences and lessons learned from using the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s integrated licensing process, the ILP.

Author(s)

Springer, Fred E. and Hallie M. Meushaw

Contact

Notes

Attachment	Size
FredSpringerIntegratedLicensing.pdf	388.11 KB

FERC Claims Jurisdiction on Hydrokinetic Projects on the Outer Continental Shelf

Rupak Thapaliya — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:43:39 -0500

Through a press release issued last week, FERC has claimed jurisdiction over hydro projects on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), a region within three miles off the ocean shore.

FERC asserted that the Federal Power Act (FPA) gives the Commission authority to regulate hydroelectric projects on the OCS while the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) intends the Commission to be the lead authority over such projects. The Mineral Management Services, (MMS) under the Department of Interior (DOI) had also claimed authority over hydroelectric projects on the OCS stating that FERC's jurisdiction does not extend to the OCS.

"I am confident that today's decision puts to rest any questions about FERC's jurisdiction over hydroelectric projects on the OCS," said FERC Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher. "This will allow applicants, local, state and federal agencies, and other interested groups to work together more effectively and expeditiously to develop appropriate projects that utilize our renewable ocean resources."

The battle between MMS and FERC started on issuance of preliminary permits for two wave energy projects- the Humboldt Project (P-12779) off the coast of the Samoa Peninsula in Humboldt County, and the Mendocino Project (P-12781) off the coast of Fort Bragg in Mendocino County, California.

FERC terminates a hydro license after 14 years of in-operation

Rupak Thapaliya — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:51:33 -0500

Project: Appleton Trust : P-9300

After 14 years of in-operation, FERC has terminated the license for Appleton Trust Hydropower Project (P-9300) on the Hamilton Canal in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The project, when it was operational before November 1994, had the capacity to produce 346 kW.

According to FERC, the project needed major repairs to resume operation and it had asked the licensee to perform the repairs and resume operations. However, the licensee failed to perform repairs or make a commitment to do so for a decade. Additionally, in July 2006, the City of Lowell had obtained the land in which the project was located, which effectively transferred the rights on the project land to the City.

In an order issued yesterday, FERC states

"The licensee's renewed interest in the project is too little, too late. The project has not operated for almost 14 years, and it needs major repairs and a power sales contract to resume operation. For over 10 years, Commission staff tried to work with the licensee, repeatedly asking for repair schedules and plans. Again and again, the licensee either failed to respond or responded by providing schedules for fixing the project that were never met.

Additionally, FERC states

Today, there is no evidence that the project is any closer to being able to resume operation than it was 14 years ago. In fact, the City's acquisition of the land and buildings by eminent domain makes any possibility of repairing the project and resuming operations even less likely.

FERC has the discretion to terminate a hydropower license by "implied surrender" if it deems that the licensee is not showing good faith to operate a project.

The project was located in the basement of what was formerly a six-story mill building. After the demolition of the building by the City in 2002, the generating equipment has been covered with collapsed building material.

FERC issues a license for Santa Felicia project in California

Rupak Thapaliya — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:04:13 -0500

Project: Santa Felicia : P-2153

FERC issued a 40-year license today to United Water Conservation District for operation of Santa Felicia hydroelectric project in Ventura County, CA.

Although the project boundary contains endangered and threatened species such as Southern California steelhead, Santa Ana sucker. Southwestern Arroyo toad, and California red legged frog, it was determined that the project would only affect Southern California steelhead. Last year, the National Marine and Fisheries Service (NMFS), through its Biological Opinion (BO), provided a list of measures that could be undertaken to protect the species. Among the measures was a study to analyze the need for fish passage, which the licensee will have to perform within the first year. Within the first three years, United is also required to formulate a plan to provide whitewater boating portage around Santa Felicia dam.

Coalition members American Whitewater, California Trout and Trout Unlimited had participated in the license proceeding for this 1.4 MW project.

Sources of Bureaucratic Delay: A Case Study of FERC Dam Relicensing

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:27:54 -0500

Source: The Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization

Volume: 22

Year: 2005

Abstract

This paper investigates the sources for regulatory delay in bureaucratic decision making, testing regulatory capture, congressional dominance, and bureaucratic discretion theories of agency behavior.

The empirical context concerns relicenses issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for hydroelectric dams, which have taken anywhere from just ten months to over sixteen years to be issued. The reasons for this heterogeneity in regulatory processing times can be expected to be varied and numerous and indeed we find evidence that outside interest groups, the legislature, and bureaucratic discretion are all significant in affecting regulatory processing times. Our most intriguing results concern the effects of environmental interest groups, which, despite their apparent benefit/cost motivation to hasten the relicensing process (independent of relicensing outcomes), overall end up slowing it down.

Author(s)

Lea-Rachel D. Kosnik

Contact

Notes

City of Hamilton to generate electricty at Meldahl Locks and Dam

Rupak Thapaliya — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:12:05 -0500

Project: Meldahl : P-12667

The City of Hamilton, OH has obtained a federal license to operate a 106 MW hydropower facility at the Captain Anthony Meldahl locks and dam near Augusta, Kentucky. According to the license issued yesterday, the project to be located on the existing Army Corps dam on the Ohio River, will occupy about 81 acres of federal lands.

On March 1, 2006 FERC had terminated the license for the same project previously granted to the City of Augusta (P-10395) in 1995. The licensee had failed to start construction of project even after repeated extensions. Under the current 50 year license, the City of Hamilton is required to commence construction of the project works within two years.

Editorial: Lake Powell Pipeline project needs better assessment

Rupak Thapaliya — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:47:48 -0500

Project: Lake Powell Pipeline: P-12966

There have been increasing concerns in Utah about the proposed Lake Powell pipeline project which will also include hydropower projects.

Although the project is primarily a water supply project, FERC has been charged to conduct the environmental analysis due to the proposal for power production. A recent editorial on Salt Lake Tribune questions the adequacy of the study to be performed by FERC claiming that FERC does not have the capacity to assess the geological, aquatic, aesthetic and economic aspects of the proposed project. With FERC being the lead agency for the project, other agencies including the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service will have to base their recommendations and decision based on FERC's study.

While this ambitious project claims to address water needs of growing southern Utah, a recent study by UC San Diego scientists warns that Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the two major sources of water for southwestern United States could go dry by 2021.

The proposal seeks to build a 158-mile-long, 66-inch-diameter pipeline from Lake Powell to a reservoir in Washington County, and a separate 38-mile-long, 30-inch pipeline from Washington County to Iron County at an initial estimated cost of $842 million, which is expected to grow over time.

FERC issues a 40-year license for Priest Rapids project on mid-Columbia River

Rupak Thapaliya — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:43:45 -0500

Project: Priest Rapids : P-2114

Last week, FERC issued a 40-year license to the Grant County PUD to operate the Priest Rapids hydro project.

The Priest Rapids project, consisting of Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams is the lowermost project on the Mid-Columbia River. Located upstream are three other FERC licensed projects- Rocky Reach, Rock Island, and Wells. The project affects multiple Columbia River species including sockeye salmon, steelhead, coho salmon, rainbow trout, and white sturgeon.

After a series of short term agreements limited to Chinook protections in the Hanford reach, Grant County PUD reached an agreement with state and federal agencies and tribes regarding the long-term operations of the entire project. Components of the agreement include fish passage criteria, habitat restoration, and hatchery obligations. This agreement formed the basis for the new license. Although measures related to Fall Chinook protection in the Hanford reach are included, there is ongoing monitoring to better assess the problem.

FERC's First-in-time Rule: An Impediment to Hydropower Development

Rupak Thapaliya — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:47:19 -0500

Source: Energy Law Journal

Volume: 5.1

Year: 1984

Abstract

This paper takes a look at the FERC's "first-in-time" policy for granting preliminary permits to new hydropower projects concluding that FERC's policy contradicts Federal Power Act's directive to the Commission. The paper also argues that this policy also does not allow for competition for licensing.

Author(s)

Barbara E. Schneider

Contact

Notes

Attachment	Size
Energy Law Review 5.1 - FERC Preliminary Permit Rule.pdf	793.09 KB

FERC rejects application for hydropower on McKenzie River

Rupak Thapaliya — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:59:14 -0600

Citing deficiencies in a number of aspects, FERC has rejected the application (Project No. 13099-000) from Principal Power for hydropower production on Oregon's McKenzie River.

In a letter issued on Feb 13, FERC rejected the application that included insufficient details on important issues such as construction activities, reservoirs, and transmission lines. The application, filed on Jan 15, had also failed to provide a detailed workplan or a map showing project locations. Commission regulations require an applicant to submit a complete description of each project including characteristics of the dams and reservoirs, size of penstocks, description of powerhouse and transmission lines, in addition to a detailed map of project locations and boundaries. The applicant had mentioned that the project would consist of eight or nine non-dam developments for a combined power output of 83MW but no details were provided. All in all, the application was very negligent.

McKenzie River has long been an attractive site for whitewater recreation, sport fishing, hiking, driftboating, and other recreational activities.

The proposed projects were located downstream of the existing Carmen-Smith hydroelectric project and just below the Wild and Scenic section of the McKenzie. The owner of the Carmen-Smith project has been working with agencies, nonprofits, paddlers, anglers and others to reach a settlement agreement for new license terms. One of the largest hurdles in this settlement is agreement on how to mitigate for salmon migration, and these new projects would have defeated any fishery improvements in this settlement long before it could even be signed.

The new projects also raised questions regarding what is clean energy, and what are acceptable impacts for this river. While no dams were proposed, Principal Power was looking to build up to nine weirs. While they proposed no reservoirs, they did propose up to nine head ponds, as well as roads, transmission lines, penstocks and tunnels along a 34 mile section of the river. Just like dams, diversion weirs produce electricity by diverting water out of the river, which affects boating, the fishery, and the millions of dollars and man-hours spend so far on returning salmon to the upstream sections of the McKenzie.

You can read an article from Oregon's Register-Guard here.

FERC continues with inadequate carbon analysis

Rupak Thapaliya — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:00:00 -0600

In a recent Environmental Assessment (EA) of Morgan Falls project, FERC has yet again failed to perform a complete analysis of carbon footprint of the project. The EA states:

If relicensed, the power from the project would continue to be useful in meeting art of the local and regional need for power and continue to displace the operation of fossil-fueled facilities thus avoiding significant fossil-fueled power plant emissions and creating an environmental benefit. If the electric output of the project were replaced with coal-fired generation, greenhouse gas emissions would increase by 15,000 metric tons of carbon annually.

HRC contends that this statement wrongly assumes that -

If the Morgan Falls plant ceased generation, it would be replaced by a fossil-fuel fired facility, more specifically a coal-fired facility.
The electricity now produced could not be replaced by other renewable source of energy such as wind or solar or through efficiency and conservation.
The reservoir associated with the operation of Morgan Falls project is not a significant source of greenhouse gases.

The Commission simply assumes that if the Morgan Falls project were to stop generating, it would be replaced by a coal-burning plant. This analysis does not include or refer to any supporting evidence, and fails to consider other perfectly reasonable options such as solar or wind. Alternatively, its power could be replaced through conservation and/or efficiency measures.

The Commission also ignores the findings of recent researches that indicate that reservoirs can be a significant source of greenhouse gases, specifically carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). Scientists in Canada and Brazil have estimated that reservoirs could contribute to as much as 4% of total CO2 and 10% of total CH4 emissions. Despite these findings, FERC simply assumes that hydro projects, such as Morgan Falls, are carbon free sources of electricity.

HRC filed comment on Dec 10, demanding that FERC's carbon analysis must feature a more realistic consideration of the carbon that might be emitted by various sources of replacement power, as well as a more accurate accounting of a project’s carbon emissions. Such a careful analysis is missing from the EA for the Morgan Falls project. HRC also demanded that in case of absence of such an analysis, FERC should strike the paragraph from the EA altogether.

FERC's final rule amending CEII regulations

John Seebach — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 10:23:31 -0500

A little more than four years after they were first issued, FERC has amended its CEII regulations. The amended regulations (read FERC's final rule or its order on rehearing) have several significant new features.

Refined Definition of CEII

Observing that "many submitters over utilize [CEII] designation," FERC has restricted its definition of CEII, which is now defined as "specific engineering, vulnerability, or detailed design information about proposed or existing critical infrastructure that:

Relates details about the production, generation, transportation, transmission, or distribution of energy;
Could be useful to a person in planning an attack on critical infrastructure;
Is exempt from mandatory disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552 (2000); and
Does not simply give the general location of the critical infrastructure."

(Note: Bolded / italicized text indicates where the definition has changed)

FERC goes on to clarify that "narratives such as the descriptions of facilities and processes are generally not CEII unless they describe specific engineering and design details of critical infrastructure."

NDA requirement for CEII requests

Anyone requesting CEII must now submit an executed non-disclosure agreement (NDA) along with their request. Non disclosure forms for the general public (as well as specific forms for the media, federal agencies, state agencies, and consultants) are available along with CEII request forms at FERC's CEII help page.

Increased concern over CEII abuses

The Coalition (and others) have long complained that FERC's CEII designation process encourages abuse by allowing utilities to designate information as CEII without any meaningful review. Some utilities have blatantly abused the system by incorrectly labeling non-critical information as CEII in order to restrict public access. A more common practice is to combine information that should not be restricted with legitimate CEII information in a single submission, thus keeping all of the information hidden from the public.

In its order, FERC reminds utilities that they should segregate CEII and non-CEII information and provide a justification for why information has been designated as CEII. FERC also appears to be putting utilities on notice that blatant abuse will not be tolerated, writing that the Commission "will take action against applicants or parties who knowingly misfile information as CEII, including rejection of an application where information is mislabeled as CEII or where a legal justification is not provided."

Dams: here today, gone tomorrow? Positive signes of change at FERC

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 10:18:25 -0500

Source:

Volume: July 1994 p13

Year: 1994

Abstract

FERC has made great strides recently soliciting public input on whether they can and should "consider decommissioning of a project as an alternative to issuing a new license." Also, FERC has asked for input on how cumulative impacts of hydro porjects in the same reiver basin should be addressed. In respone to this request, various NGOs have weighed in with their opinion. The Hydropower Reform Coalition states FERC needs a "cradle-to-grave" approach in licensing that would fund the retirement of a hydro facility at the end of its useful lfe without burdening taxpayers. Furthermore, rather than review dams one by one, FERC should conduct river basin wide analyses, issuing licenses according to that plan.

Author(s)

Turner , E.

Contact

Notes

American Rivers produced abstract

What makes a hydropower negotiation successful?

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 10:18:24 -0500

Source: Hydro Review

Volume: August 1996 pp66-71

Year: 1996

Abstract

Negotiation implies that parties try to reach an agreement that will satisfy at least some of the needs of each of the participating groups. According to analysis performed by an interdisciplinary research team at the national Biological Service, parties negotiating about hydropower licenses need seven conditions and behaviors. They are: need to negotiate; representativeness; power; technical clarity; commitment to implementation; urgency; playing by the rules. The results of our investigations--determined by analyzing six recent hydropower project licensing consultations--are presented below as a general guide to successful negotiating.

Author(s)

Taylor , J.G. , Lamb , B.L. . Burkardt , N.

Contact

Contact

Notes

Preliminary Permit application filed for Newport Wave Park Project

John Seebach — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 14:44:45 -0600

Oregon Wave Energy Partners, LLC has filed a preliminary permit application for a proposed wave energy project that would be located 3-6 miles offshore in Lincoln County, Oregon. Comments and motions to intervene are due to FERC by February 18, 2007.

According to FERC, the proposed project (P-12750):

"[W]ould consist of: (1) 200 to 400 Power Buoys having a total installed capacity of 100 megawatts, (2) a proposed 13.8 kilovolt transmission line, and (3) appurtenant facilities. The project is estimated to have an annual generation of 306.6 gigawatt-hours per-unit per-year, which would be sold to a local utility."

Preliminary Permit application filed for Coos Bay Wave Park Project

John Seebach — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 14:38:33 -0600

Oregon Wave Energy Partners, LLC has filed a preliminary permit application for a proposed wave energy project that would be located 2.5 miles offshore in Coos County, Oregon. Comments and motions to intervene are due to FERC by February 18, 2007.

According to FERC, the project (FERC P-12749):

"[W]ould consist of: (1) 200 to 400 Power Buoys having a total installed capacity of 100 megawatts, (2) a proposed 13.8 kilovolt transmission line; and (3) appurtenant facilities. The project is estimated to have an annual generation of 306.6 gigawatt-hours per-unit per-year, which would be sold to a local utility."