BPA explains rationale behind lake level request

SANDPOINT — The Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are hosting another open house on Wednesday for people to learn more about a proposal to fluctuate the level of Lake Pend Oreille during the winter.

The open house is from 4-7 p.m. at Panhandle State Bank at 414 Church St.

BPA is asking the the corps to strategically raise and lower the lake level via the Albeni Falls Dam when power demands peak in the Northwest.

If approved by the corps, the lake level could vary within a range of five feet, although BPA expects the variation to be less than that to avoid hindering kokanee recovery efforts on Lake Pend Oreille.

“We put some fairly conservative limits around the lake level and we would manage it so that it wasn’t like it would be drawn up and down constantly,” said BPA spokesman Michael Milstein.

The lake level would change no more than a half-foot a day and the variations are already within the corps’ operating range for Lake Pend Oreille. Last winter, the lake level varied by as much as four feet, Milstein said.

The proposal, which is being evaluated under a National Environmental Policy Act assessment, has run into significant opposition in Bonner County because of concerns over sedimentation, erosion, and impacts to fish populations and shoreline infrastructure.

The proposal is aimed at making more effective use of Albeni Falls’ power-generating capabilities only when the Northwest hydropower system is stretched to the limit during cold snaps.

“If everything is maxed out, we basically have to go onto the market and buy power to supply our customers,” Milstein said. “It’s much more cost effective to use something that you already have in your system than to go out and pay a sky-high asking price.”

Some have speculated the BPA proposal is related to the unpredictable ebb and flow of power generated by wind turbines in the region, but Milstein said that’s not the case with Albeni Falls.

“With the amount of capacity, the ability to adjust it is really not significant enough to use for balancing wind. That really depends on some of the bigger dams in the system,” he said, referring to facilities such as John Day and Chief Joseph dams.

Those larger dams automatically speed up and slow down depending on what the wind is doing, Milstein said.

Milstein added that Northwest electric rate payers, including those around the lake, fund most of the $7 million operating and maintenance costs of Albeni Falls because of its value in generating power.

BPA contends the winter lake level could be managed in a way that respects the needs of fish and wildlife, in addition to those who live on the lake. Milstein said the basic goal is to make effective, balanced use of facilities that consumers already pay for before BPA has to turn to more expensive options.

“It’s a matter of trying to use the cost-effective parts of our power system before we go out onto the market for an asking price that may be significantly higher,” said Milstein.