Idaho Power is preparing to renew its license to operate its most important hydroelectric sources for the next 50 years: the three Hells Canyon dams.
Built in the 1950s and ‘60s, the three dams — Brownlee, Oxbow and Hells Canyon — are located along the Idaho-Oregon border in the Snake River.
In 2005, Idaho Power’s original license for the three dams expired, and since then, the company has operated on an annual license using the same terms and conditions of the original license.
The company is working with Native Tribes, as well as state and federal agencies to establish a new 50-year license that would guide its environmental and recreational programs along the Snake River.
But first, the company first must receive approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Idaho Power director of environmental affairs Brett Dumas told the Idaho Capital Sun that he anticipates the federal commission will publish a draft supplemental environmental impact statement by late summer followed by a 60-day public comment period.
According to the Idaho Power website, the company anticipates the federal commission will implement the new license in 2024 or 2025.
Why is a new license important? Idaho Power is the state’s largest electricity power — providing power to nearly 620,000 accounts in Idaho and Oregon. Energy generated from the three Hells Canyon dams accounts for 70% of the company’s hydro generation, according to the Idaho Power website.
“Without a license, we can’t continue operating the dams, and so having a new license is valuable to us knowing that the hydro resource is going to be available to us for the next 50 years,” Dumas said in an interview.
Idaho Power spokesperson Brad Bowlin said that there are new costs associated with relicensing the dams.
“Our customers have had the luxury of relying on hydro generation that was paid for a generation ago, and so these dams remain by far our lowest cost source of energy,” he said. “But we’re not building more dams, we are relicensing them.”
The cost of implementing the new measures associated with the new license will cost Idaho Power $1 billion dollars over the next 50 years, he said.
New Hells Canyon license emphasizes water quality, fish
Dumas said the previous license did not take into consideration environmental issues, and the new license has an emphasis on water quality and fish.
“Under this new license, I think the water quality elements will be the biggest new change as well as continuing to improve all the fish,” Dumas said. “People don’t want harmful algae blooms in the water they swim in, and they want to be able to eat the fish that they catch in the reservoir.”
The new license would require Idaho Power to address warm water temperatures flowing out of Hells Canyon Dam during the summer and fall that can be lethal to fish.
To address federal temperature concerns, the company established the Snake River Stewardship Program, a program designed to improve aquatic and land habitat by increasing water velocity and depth.
To mitigate warm water temperatures, Idaho Power has worked with river experts to add native plants that increase shade and build additional floodplains to narrow the Snake River’s tributaries.
Idaho Power has completed two river restoration projects, adding 7.5 acres of floodplain at Bayha Island near Water’s Ferry and 16.5 acres of floodplain at Rippee Island south of Nampa. The company has 18 other river projects planned under the new license, Dumas said.
In addition to temperature concerns, Idaho Power has plans to decrease the presence of methylmercury in the river — a toxin present in many Snake River fish.
Dumas said methylmercury continues to build in fish, and the longer the fish live, the more likely they are to have higher mercury levels in their body.
Mercury levels in fish is a concern for Tribes who rely on Snake River fish, Dumas said.
“The Nez Perce are concerned about that with sturgeon,” he said. “Sturgeon live to be 100 years old or more, so it’s not very safe to eat them. A little bit here and there, OK, but if you wanted to subsist off sturgeon, it wouldn’t be a good thing.”
How is methylmercury created in the river? Dumas said micro organisms digest organic materials at the bottom of Hells Canyon reservoirs in places where there is no oxygen.
“You have to have organic material and no oxygen,” he said. “How do you reduce the amount of organic material coming in? Well, you reduce the amount of phosphorus that the organic material needs to grow. Where does the phosphorus come from? It comes from agricultural fields draining into the river.”
Dumas said that when fertilizers and animal waste enter the Snake River, the decomposed material sucks all the oxygen out of the water. The key, he said, is to reduce the amount of nutrients coming into the river upstream.
Dumas said Idaho Power has plans to incentivize farmers to switch from flood irrigation to sprinklers to more effectively control the amount of water that goes onto fields.
“When you flood irrigate through furrows, you just have to put a bunch of water on the field until it gets everything wet,” he said. “And all that excess just goes back in the river.”
Significant improvements planned for recreational areas along Snake River
Under a new license, recreational users will see significant improvements to Idaho Power’s parks in Hells Canyon.
Idaho Power manages 10 parks along the Snake River in Idaho, and four of them are located in Hells Canyon and include campgrounds, trails, fishing spots and boat launches.
Some improvements include increasing electricity and water access in Hells Canyon campgrounds and adding more space for recreational vehicles, Dumas said.
One of the major improvements the company plans is establishing a visiting center at Copperfield Park. Located below Oxbow Dam on the Oregon side of the Snake River, Dumas said the visiting center would give visitors the opportunity to learn more about hydroelectricity and Idaho Power’s hatchery programs.
Additionally, the company will improve access to its hatchery program and develop its trails located along the reservoirs.
“As the population increases in our area, the use of our facilities down here has just increased dramatically,” Bowlin said. “So that’s going to be an important benefit for people. Not just the folks that live down here, but the people that recreate because there will just be more access and more availability.”
