401 Water Quality Certification: Negotiating A 'Common Sense' Result

摘要

During relicensing of its 48-MW Lake Chelan project, Chelan County Public Utility District worked with the state of Washington to craft a 401 water quality certificate that balances competing requirements to protect endangered fish and to ensure high water quality. In the Chelan River in Washington, meeting the existing numerical criteria in the Washington Water Quality Standards for water temperature and providing flows with the greatest value for fish habitat were conflicting objectives. During Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) relicensing of its 48-MW Lake Chelan Hydro Project on this river, Chelan County Public Utility District (PUD) faced this dilemma. Instead of adhering to the numerical criteria, the goal of the relicensing became to determine how to balance the competing requirements of the Endangered Species Act (to protect salmon and steelhead) and the Clean Water Act (to protect water quality). River flows could be higher (bad for fish) and colder (good for fish), or lower (good for fish) and warmer (bad for fish).