April 12, 2023
The Eightmile Lake EIS is coming!
The long quiet period is almost over. A spokesperson for the Department of Ecology's Office of the Columbia River has announced that the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on a new dam at Eightmile Lake will be released on April 19. Initially it was planned for 2021.
We expect the draft EIS to propose two configurations for a newly-designed dam on the lake. In light of the current dam's poor condition, there is little doubt that it needs to be replaced. The real issues will be about water rights, and whether the proposed dam would allow the storage and release of more water than the Icicle Peshastin Irrigation District has used before.