Uma-Birch Floodplain Reconnection Project
The following comments were submitted in response to the open comment period described below.
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Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is requesting comments on the draft Environmental Assessment for the Uma-Birch Floodplain Reconnection Project. BPA proposes to provide funding to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation to enhance fish and wildlife habitat on about a 241-acre area along a one-mile stretch of the Umatilla River (between river miles 48.7 and 49.7) and along Birch Creek (river mile 0.0 to 0.3) at its confluence with the Umatilla River, near the town of Rieth, in Umatilla County, Oregon. Project activities would remove most of the US Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) certified Pendleton 2a levee as well as artificial berms to restore natural hydrology and reconnect the historic floodplain. The project would maintain the current level of flood protection provided by the existing levee through construction of a new set-back levee along Birch Creek Road.
For More Information:
https://www.bpa.gov/learn-and-participate/public-involvement-decisions/project-reviews/uma-birch
Close of comment: 5/18/2023
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paceIt's April 24. The comment period closes May 18. So far, BPA has not provided any detail about the project. Instead, it gives this result: "The resource you are looking for has been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable." I've hesitated to point this out because I wanted to see how long this condition will persist. Actually, it's a great way to shave days off the comment period and it can always be chalked up as a simple mistake. The fact that it's a mistake that happens often screams but doesn't prove bad motives. 2. In this case, it's appropriate to limit public involvement to a bare minimum. The reason is because this is a b------- project that doesn't nothing to protect, mitigate or enhance fish and wildlife affected by development of the FCRPS. There are no FCRPS projects in the Umatilla River basin that I am aware of. 3. Once again, it appears this is an artifact of the accords BPA entered into with the Confederated Tribes back in 2008. As everyone should know by now, the purpose of the accords was to bribe the Umatilla Tribe to shut the f--- up about extinction of interior Columbia River fish stocks in return for hundreds of millions of dollars paid the tribe since then. 4. The bribes must be laundered thru the Power Council's fish and wildlife program. The point is to justify the "overhead" to the tribe. For example, in the documentation for the project there is no indication that tribal "TERO" regulations will govern hiring and subcontracting. Instead, this is simply a pass thru that the tribes takes its 25 to 30% cut off the top. The fact that it provides flood protection for the city of Pendleton, OR, and provides funding for a popular walking trail along the river is just icing on the cake. The whole point is to silence the tribes about what BPA is doing to fish stocks in the mainstem. This continues even when these stocks decline precipitously, which they are right now. All of that is blamed on ocean conditions so the music doesn't stop and the money keeps flowing. 5. It would be better to cut the scofflaws in tribal government out of the booty altogether. Instead, per cap out the payment to the tribal members who are the big losers in all of this nonsense. They get fewer and fewer fish and, if they are not on the tribal dole or the family of a tribal war lord, they get nothing. 6. It would be better for the Secretary of the Department of Defense to declare the FCRPS (and FCRTS) as beyond the reach of ESA. This is a no brainer from the point of view of national security. It would also allow many of the "personalities" at BPA and the Power Council free reign to advance their own careers by delivering the FCRPS on a silver platter and holding the fish up as a beautiful virgins that must be sacrificed for the sake of the latest train departing the station, e.g., integration of solar and wind using the Columbia River as a battery background. 7. Bottom line, there is no way in H--- that this project is the responsibility of ratepayers. The ACOE should ask the Secretary of Defense to end this nonsense right now. Shut it down and walk away.
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Lambert/CTUIRThis is a great project. We need more projects like this across the subbasin.
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Rivard/Trout UnlimitedSee attached letter of support for this project.
View Attachment
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Chu/UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION 10
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