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.

FERC examined the petition the National Organization to Save Flathead Lake submitted and in February issued a letter to EKI finding that the company “fully operated” the dam “in compliance with [its] license.”

The saga continues, though: On March 1, the Lake County Commission submitted a letter to FERC requesting its intervention to prevent what it called the “real and dangerous public safety threat” posed by EKI’s management of the SKQ Dam. The letter argues that a low lake level could result in a loss of human life because it “negates any use of a secondary escape route for residents due to wildfire.”

“The numerous excuses previously used such as climate change, contractual obligations, lower than average snowpacks, water for downstream fisheries, etc. will be of little use following a devastating wildfire that may result in the loss of human life,” the letter reads. 

The letter also outlines proposed dam management changes that could preserve such secondary escape routes. They include amending components of EKI’s license geared toward supporting fisheries and endangered species, directing EKI to curtail its springtime lake drawdown in drought years, and requiring the federal agency that operates the Hungry Horse Reservoir, which feeds into Flathead Lake, to “become more oriented towards helping relieve the impacts of drought” than toward flood control.

The county commissioners also suggested the tribes “consider leasing SKQ Dam to a corporation that has more experience and expertise in managing a hydroelectric facility.” 

On March 20, attorneys for EKI and the CSKT, which uses dam-related revenue to support tribal operations, fired back a sharply worded response accusing the commission of creating “manufactured public safety concerns” that are “disingenuous at best.”

“Quite simply, the County’s Petition is nothing more than an effort to ensure a constant summer lake level to benefit a small group of lakefront dock owners — forcing the Licensees to curtail revenue from, and stream flows benefitting Tribal fisheries and other natural resources below, the project,” the response reads. 

The attorneys write that the county seeks to “improperly shirk its own responsibilities to address wildfire safety and evacuation routes through its planning and zoning” and argue that the remedies commissioners seek — including forcing EKI to lease the dam to another operator — are outside FERC’s regulatory authority.

As of March 21, the Flathead basin had 75% of its typical snowpack.

Amanda Eggert is an environmental reporter for the Montana Free Press, a Helena-based nonprofit newsroom, and can be reached at aeggert@montanafreepress.org.