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This is the Council's Monthly Spotlight e-newsletter. Each month, you'll receive the latest news from Council meetings, including recent decisions, news from state offices, and updates on energy and the environment.

December 2004 Issue

Council Approves New Energy Plan; recommends conservation to meet future electricity needs 

Council members approved the Fifth Power Plan at their December meeting. The plan calls for securing 700 average megawatts of conservation over the next five years, and over 2,500 average megawatts of conservation over the next 20 years. The plan also recommends exploring demand response—agreements between utilities and customers to reduce electricity use when power supplies are tight; wind generation; and clean coal technology. See press release.

First Set of Subbasin Plans Adopted Into Fish and Wildlife Program

Council members approved 23 locally developed plans that will guide efforts to mitigate the impacts of hydropower dams on fish and wildlife in Columbia River tributaries and parts of the mainstem river at their December meeting. The plans are now part of the Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. Also in December, the Council released another set of 29 subbasin plans for public review and comment.

Proposed Flows at Hungry Horse and Libby Dams Not Measurable; flow augmentation needs reassessment

The Independent Scientific Advisory Board concluded that the Council's hypothesis regarding the likely biological consequences of the operations at Libby and Hungry Horse dams in Montana is reasonable and supported by the available science. Among other things, the ISAB found that any effects on anadromous fish in the lower river from the proposed operation are likely too small to measure practically against both measurement error and background variation due to other causes. At the same time, the ISAB identified a number of other issues and attributes regarding the relationship of flow and survival in the river that do need further investigation, including a reasonable concern about the potential cumulative effects of many small changes.

     The most striking bit of information dealt with new data on a life history of fall Chinook salmon known as the "reservoir life history."  These fish may overwinter in reservoirs and migrate out in the spring instead of migrating in summer as assumed. The fish represent a significant portion of the returning adults and suggest that juvenile survival rates may have been miscalculated. The importance of velocity and temperature on salmon survival is also discussed in the report.

     At a December 22 meeting, the Council approved a letter (70k PDF) to the action agencies requesting that they implement the Libby and Hungry Horse operations in 2005.

Coming Up

• Jan 18-20: Council meeting in Vancouver
• Jan 31: Comment deadlines for SBP amendment issues, and for track 2 amendments

For more, visit www.nwcouncil.org.

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