Restore Hetch Hetchy Challenges Efforts to Circumvent National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

SAN FRANCISCO - March 11, 2013 - PRLog -- Restore Hetch Hetchy (www.hetchhetchy.org) filed comments with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today, urging FERC to require the Modesto Irrigation District and Turlock Irrigation District  (the Districts) to modify two studies conducted as part of the process to re-license the dam at Don Pedro Reservoir.  The deliberate omission of key components from these studies will result in an incomplete evaluation of the Project’s impacts as required under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (“NEPA”).

“FERC has been very clear that San Francisco’s upstream operations must be considered in re-licensing the dam at Don Pedro and hence are subject to the requirements of NEPA,” said Doug Wheeler, the partner at Hogan Lovells, LLP representing Restore Hetch Hetchy.  “Restore Hetch Hetchy continues to assert that NEPA requires a complete analysis of the environmental impacts associated with the Hetch Hetchy System’s upstream operations prior to the re-issuance of a license for the dam at Don Pedro.  Ensuring those impacts are properly accounted for in these studies is a step in that direction.”

The Districts ignored the approved study plan by omitting hydropower generation from San Francisco’s upstream facilities in the computer model created to simulate Project operations.  Additionally, the Districts failed to adequately address the impacts of Project operations on the San Francisco Bay Area in the Socioeconomics Study.  On July 25, 2011, after considering comments filed by Restore Hetch Hetchy, FERC determined that the effects of changes in Project operations on the operations of San Francisco’s upstream facilities must be considered in the relicensing proceeding.

“Given the O’Shaughnessy Dam has a special exemption from complying with the National Environmental Policy Act, it is especially important that FERC not allow any shortcuts in the re-licensing of the dam down river at Don Pedro,” said Mike Marshall, executive director of Restore Hetch Hetchy.  “A complete analysis, as required by federal environmental law, of the impacts associated with the Districts’ and San Francisco’s operations on the wild and scenic Tuolumne River cannot be completed if these studies are not amended.”

San Francisco maintains a water bank in the Don Pedro Reservoir, which accounts for 45% of San Francisco’s stored water supply.  San Francisco paid for 51% of the construction costs of the dam in order to have the right to use the reservoir as a water bank.  Most hydroelectric dams in the country must be re-licensed every 50 years by FERC at which point NEPA requires a thorough evaluation of alternatives or modifications that would enhance the environment.  The O’Shaughnessy Dam, operated by San Francisco in Yosemite National Park, is exempt from FERC licensing hence there is no mechanism to periodically evaluate possible alternatives that would benefit the environment.

To download the comments, go to http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/file_list.asp?accession_num=20130311-5065

ABOUT RESTORE HETCH HETCHY: The mission of Restore Hetch Hetchy is to return the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park to its natural splendor while continuing to meet the water and power needs of all communities that depend on the Tuolumne River.

Media Relations

Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, (949) 307-1723 (tel:%28949%29%20307-1723), melanie@mwebbcom.com