Plan for Libby Dam spawns lawsuit

Environmental group opposes federal agency's call for increased flows

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit challenging the government's recently issued biological opinion for operations at Libby Dam.

Specifically, the environmental group questions how the opinion offered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has maintained an emphasis on the dam providing higher flows for sturgeon by releasing water over the dam's spillways during spring spawning.

The agency "fails to explain its dramatic departure" in preferring spill operations when previous biological opinions put premiums on the installation of additional turbines at the dam.

The Center for Biological Diversity is asking U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula to compel the service to withdraw the opinion and reinitiate "consultation" with the action agencies that operate Libby Dam, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bonneville Power Administration.

The environmental group has long maintained that additional turbines at Libby Dam are feasible, but BPA in particular has insisted that it's not.

The biological opinion states that "the corps and BPA have concluded that adding generating units and the associated transmission is not a reasonable or economically prudent near-term option for implementation."

Service officials have maintained that spill operations - about 10,000 cubic feet per second above maximum powerhouse releases of 35,000 cfs - are a viable alternative for providing water velocities, depths and temperatures that will encourage adult sturgeon to spawn in an area upstream from Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

But that preference squarely conflicts with Montana water-quality standards. Spilling volumes in the range of just 1,000 cfs to 2,000 cfs produces gas levels in the river that exceed the state's standards, raising concerns about harm to other resident fish populations.

Bruce Measure, one of Montana's representatives on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, has promised bluntly that Montana will take legal action to stop any spill operations at Libby Dam.

The state is urging "stacked" flows with powerhouse capacity operations at key periods during spawning and other measures to encourage sturgeon spawning, including engineered improvements in the river.

Since Libby Dam became operational in 1975, peak flows on the river have been reduced by about 50 percent. Sturgeon spawning areas "have been adversely altered with respect to flow, water velocity, depth, substrate and water temperatures," according to the Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit states.

But the Kootenai River has changed in other ways since the dam was built - most notably with the development of homes in the flood plain that now present practical constraints on reproducing historic peak flows.

At a meeting of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week in Libby, public opposition to any spill operations at Libby Dam was nearly unanimous.

Kerry Berg, a staffer for Montana's representatives on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, said those who attended the meeting were concerned that higher flows would cause harm "not only to fish but also to property" along the river.

Measure said the state of Montana will soon intervene in the Center for Biological Diversity's lawsuit.

"We are going to participate … to advise the court as to the other interests on the river and to advise the court as to other scientists on the river who have different views," he said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.