2 Oct 2017
Federal operators of the Snow Lake dam plan to install a new valve that would allow them to boost water withdrawal by 60%.
First news of this plan came in a joint press release issued by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and US Bureau of Reclamation today. It announced their plan to install a new and bigger valve in the Snow Lake dam, which they operate, so that they can withdraw more water from Snow Lake at a faster rate – up from 50 to 80 cubic feet per second.
The Bureau of Reclamation also released an Environmental Assessment (EA)* – not a more comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) – that offers some details on the planned upgrade and the reasons for it. While the EA emphasizes the need for more cold water in Icicle River during late summer to aid salmon survival, the underlying reason appears to be that the Icicle Peshastin Irrigation District wants more water.
Based on a 1941 agreement between the Bureau and the irrigation district, the irrigation district allowed the federal agency to use part of its water right for the Leavenworth fish hatchery, but the irrigation district could call on the Bureau of Reclamation for more water at any time.
For decades the irrigation district did not use water from Snow and Nada Lakes, but in 2015 it notified the reclamation bureau that it intended to start using part of its old water right during the irrigation season. The current valve in the Snow Lake dam is not big enough to release the water volume wanted by both the fish hatchery and the irrigation district, so the Bureau of Reclamation plans to install a bigger valve. To do this, it intends to ferry equipment and workers in and out of the Snow Lake area, which is within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, via helicopter.
The EA, authored by the Bureau of Reclamation, contains a number of factual errors. Among them:
- it claims that the valve replacement plan was part of the scoping and public involvement for the Icicle Strategy, when in fact it was never mentioned.
- it claims that the valve project “was … included” in the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Icicle Strategy, when in fact that DPEIS probably will not be released until January.
- it claims that the Snow Lake dam is only “surrounded by” the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, when in fact it is part of the wilderness.
The Bureau of Reclamation only allowed 15 days for public comment on its EA. The comment period closes October 17.
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* See https://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/ea/wash/snowlake/snowlakeea.pdf