Winter pool issue surfacing today

KEITH KINNAIRD

News editor

SANDPOINT — A proposal to fluctuate the winter level of Lake Pend Oreille will surface twice at public meetings today.

The Pend Oreille Basin Commission will discuss the Bonneville Power Administration proposal during its meeting at Dover City Hall. The meeting starts at 10 a.m.

During the meeting, Chip Corsi, the Idaho Department of Fish & Game’s Panhandle region supervisor, is slated to give the commission a presentation on general fish and wildlife mitigation for the Albeni Falls Dam. Corsi’s presentation is set for 11 a.m.

At noon, Jeff Laufle of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is scheduled to update the commission on the National Environmental Policy Act review process for BPA’s proposal to adjust the winter pool by as much as five feet to wring more power generation out of Albeni Falls when demand peaks in the region.

A NEPA environmental assessment is being conducted on the BPA proposal, although the lakes commission is urging a more extensive environmental impact statement.

Michael Milstein, a BPA spokesman, said the lake will fluctuate no more than a half a foot a day and the actual variations would likely be less than the five feet they’re requesting.

A story on the winter pool issue published on Sunday incorrectly stated, because of a reporting error, that the lake level varied by as much four feet last winter. Had BPA’s request been honored last winter, it would have operated within a four-foot range, Milstein said.

BPA is hosting an open house-style meeting on the winter pool proposal at Panhandle State Bank’s community room from 4-7 p.m.