Lake level plan still worries basin board

SANDPOINT — The Pend Oreille Basin Commission continues to harbor concerns about the Bonneville Power Administration’s plans to fluctuate the level of Lake Pend Oreille in wintertime to match power demands.

The state agreed this month not to challenge BPA’s Flexible Winter Pool Operations plan in exchange for $3 million to manage erosion on the Pend Oreille and other inducements.

Under BPA’s Flexible Winter Power Operations proposal, the lake’s level would fluctuate within a 5-foot range from December through March. The operating range is 2,051-2,056 feet.

The plan was approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last year and implemented last winter.

The proposal was met with widespread opposition and skepticism when BPA rolled it out due to concerns about damage to shoreline infrastructure, exacerbating the spread of invasive aquatic species and erosion of deltas.

“The POBC continues to have concerns that this change in procedure may be responsible for impacts on the ecology and infrastructure on the lake,” the basin commission said in a statement.

Although the commission was encouraged that the state limited its freedom to take legal action against BPA to only five years, it doubts that the redistribution of the $3 million, which has been granted to the Idaho Department of Fish for construction and inundation impacts of the Albeni Falls Dam, will be sufficient.

The commission also doubts that another $150,000 over three years will be sufficient for monitoring erosion impacts.

“The POBC believes that BPA funds should have been directed at monitoring during the winter of 2011-2012 to study the initial impacts of the fluctuation,” the commission said.