State accepts BPA offer on winter lake plan
SANDPOINT — The state has agreed not to challenge the Bonneville Power Administration’s plan to fluctuate the level of Lake Pend Oreille during winter for power purposes.
In exchange for the state’s tacit approval, BPA is providing the Idaho Department of Fish & Game $3 million over the next three years to manage erosion in the Pend Oreille and an additional half-million dollars for monitoring.
Idaho will also recommend that the lake be held at a higher winter pool elevation next fall and a lower winter pool in the fall of 2013, John Chatburn, interim administrator for Idaho’s Office of Energy Resources, said in a recent letter to BPA.
BPA made the offer last October, shortly before BPA commenced its Flexible Winter Power Operations for Lake Pend Oreille, a plan that was approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The funding offered by BPA will not be counted against ongoing efforts to mitigate wildlife impacts from construction of the Albeni Falls Dam and the resulting inundation of waterfront lands.
In exchange for the funding, Idaho agrees not to sue BPA or take part in an administrative actions aimed at halting the FWPO plan through the spring of 2017.
The flexible winter operations plan has been met with stiff resistance from waterfront landowners in Idaho due to concerns that it will damage docks, water intakes and other infrastructure.
The plan was in effect last winter, although there were no reports of significant damage to infrastructure or water resources.
The corps and BPA are implementing new standard operating procedures to minimize the risk of damage to structures around Lake Pend Oreille to maintain active and hinge cracks in the ice.
“This was an important concern for citizens of Idaho who live and recreate on the lake, and we are encouraged that the SOP may over the long term decrease the overall risk of damage to structures,” Chatburn said in the letter.
BPA proposed the plan to strategically store and release water in the Pend Oreille to match the ebb and flow of power demands in the region.
The Pend Oreille Basin Commission had no comment on Idaho’s acceptance of the BPA offer.