Don’t Sacrifice Rivers for More Power

How much of California’s electricity crisis has been caused by greedy power companies, a shortage of supplies, booming demand or an unworkable energy marketplace remains to be seen. But blaming environmental laws for the problem or rolling back a generation of public health and environmental safeguards would be shortsighted and would overlook the costs already borne by our air and water as we generate power.

The great danger is that, in crisis, officials will reach out for quick fixes that place unneeded burdens on our landscape and wildlife. That’s exactly what happened during the energy crisis of the late 1970s after Congress and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission encouraged hundreds of speculative proposals for private hydropower dams and diversions as a way to address concerns about the nation’s energy supply. Fortunately, because of the subsequent public outcry, most of these so-called “small” power facilities (less than 80 megawatts) were not built. However, the potential for damage to streams and rivers from these facilities was very real.

Now, California’s magnificent rivers again could be the unfortunate victims of a renewed and desperate search for more energy production. Dams in this state and hydropower dams in particular have provided society with many obvious benefits. But they have also produced a legacy of environmental damage.

For example, by blocking upstream access into hundreds, if not thousands, of miles of rivers and creeks, dams have helped eliminate most of the historic spawning habitat for salmon and steelhead, which has prompted all sorts of complex and costly state programs for keeping these fish from becoming extinct. Dams also have helped divert and drain rivers dry to feed the utilities’ hungry powerhouse operations, harming water quality and creating uninhabitable conditions for aquatic life downstream.

These concerns become important as the state’s hydro dams renew their federal licenses for generating power. Southern California Edison’s hydroelectric assets, for instance, include 36 powerhouses and 79 generating units and associated dams, reservoirs and waterways. Since the license for a hydropower project can last up to half a century, what we do today could last a generation or more. The current crisis must not frighten us away from having additional water flow more naturally from these dams.

With improved technologies and more efficient turbines, a better balance between electrical production and river flows for fish can be incorporated into dam operations. An example of this can be found in Northern California, where Pacific Gas & Electric recently agreed to improve operations for one of its Sierra Nevada hydropower facilities. Working with fishing and environmental groups, it agreed to modernize several aging power plants along the Mokelumne River while also restoring historic flows to the river; and it did so without any real loss of power capabilities.

So there is a silver lining in the dark days of our energy woes. It can be found in a renewed emphasis on efficiency, combined with conservation and sustainable energy technologies, rather than in further straining our rivers.