Flathead Lake level dispute boils in letters to federal hydroelectric regulators

A federal agency that oversees hydroelectric dams has been roped, again, into an ongoing dispute about water levels in Flathead Lake. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission received a pair of letters this month related to its ability to referee dam management to sustain water levels in the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi.

The dispute stems from last summer’s uncharacteristically low lake levels, which frustrated lakefront property owners accustomed to using their docks through the summer and squeezed businesses reliant on lake-supported recreation.

In January, a recently formed group called the National Organization to Save Flathead Lake petitioned FERC to intervene in the management of the Séliš Ksanka QÍispé Dam (formerly Kerr Dam), which is owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The group argued that previous dam operators managed to navigate drought without such sharp drops during the summer boating season. Energy Keepers, Inc., a CSKT-owned company that assumed management of the dam in 2015, countered that a modest snowpack, record-breaking springtime temperatures and stipulations of its license related to fisheries and dam discharge rates all played a role in the diminished lake.