Dec. 27, 2017
Federal agencies that control Snow Lake dam are sticking with their plan for a bigger valve to allow higher discharge rates.
In a revised Environmental Assessment (EA) released on December 21, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Fish & Wildlife Service renew their proposal to replace the current valve on the Snow Lake dam with a larger one that will allow them to withdraw water at a faster rate. The new EA is available at: https://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/ea/wash/snowlake/snowlakedraftea2.pdf
This EA is a redraft of one released in the fall. That draft drew strong criticism that may have convinced the two agencies to revise their EA and invite more public comments. A new comment period now runs through January 11. See https://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/ea/wash/snowlake/index.html
The revised EA offers three alternatives: (1) to do nothing, (2) to helicopter workers back and forth during the valve replacement, and (3) to require workers to camp at the dam site during construction. These last two alternatives both propose installing the same larger valve.
The new EA also contains additional analysis about flow and discharge rates, but still leaves unanswered a number of questions about how much water will be withdrawn, water rights, and related questions.