Wallooskee-Youngs Confluence Restoration Project
The following comments were submitted in response to the open comment period described below.
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The Bonneville Power Administration is soliciting your comments on the draft environmental assessment it has prepared to evaluate whether to fund the proposed Wallooskee-Youngs Confluence Restoration Project just south of Astoria in Clatsop County, Oregon.
The proposed project would help BPA meet some of its federal Endangered Species Act obligations as defined in the Federal Columbia River Power System, 2014 Supplemental Biological Opinion (BiOp) by restoring and enhancing 193 acres of tidal wetlands. BPA works with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation to offset the effects of federal dams on salmon and steelhead. Estuary habitat improvements are a key component of this work. The estuary’s nutrient-rich habitat provides food and refuge for juvenile salmon as they make their critical transition from fresh water to salt water. Estuary projects can be complex, often involving a diversity of land owners and issues. The goal is to reconnect areas of the Columbia River flood plain and restore juvenile habitat by opening dikes and/or upgrading tide gates or culverts. The project would also provide habitat for wildlife such as deer, elk, and river otter.
For More Information:
https://www.bpa.gov/goto/WallooskeeYoungs
Close of comment: 1/28/2015
- WYCRP14 0001 -
PaceBPA lacks authority to draw down and divert ratepayers’ contribution to the Bonneville Fund for the Wallooskee-Youngs Confluence Restoration project unless it can be shown that the operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System has some specific nexus to the adverse impacts on fish and wildlife. Put somewhat differently, Bonneville is neither obligated nor authorized under the Northwest Power Act to provide mitigation for impacts authorized by state and local planning authorities that allowed development of wetlands subject to tidal influence. Under the Northwest Power Act, the Administrator must confine mitigation activities to fish and wildlife enhancements that mitigate for the development and operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System. To the extent that state and local authorities and/or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are the entities responsible for land use planning and development of wetlands, they are the entities—not ratepayers—that are required to undertake mitigation measures. To do otherwise, regardless of how laudable the potential improvements in survival of listed species might be, would violate the prohibition in the Northwest Power Act against providing “in lieu” expenditures. As an aside, I note that the Cowlitz Indian Tribe may soon be in a position to provide substantial funding for such restoration projects out of revenues it receives from gaming operations.
- WYCRP14 0002 -
RogersPlease see attached for comment
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- WYCRP14 0003 -
HellbergPlease see attached for comment
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- WYCRP14 0004 -
DavisPlease see attached for comment
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- WYCRP14 0005 -
hoganPerhaps you can assist.... I commented earlier & had several questions/concerns. Have any of these questions been answered in this EA document? It is a lengthy report & I have been unable to find answers within it in the time frame for comment. If not answered here, where/when will they be considered?
- WYCRP14 0006 -
RyanPlease see attached for comment
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- WYCRP14 0007 -
Heiner
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