Interior sides with irrigators
Tam Moore
Oregon Staff Writer
The
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission closed
public comment and arguments this week on a U.S.
Department of Interior petition to make
bargain-basement electricity rates a part of any
renewal of hydroelectric licenses for less than
full term.
FERC is to rule by April 2006 on PacifiCorp’s
request for a new 50-year license for what is
now a 151-megawatt-a-year complex of generators.
All but one power plant use tailwater from the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project to
turn the turbines. If the complex deal cannot be
made in time, FERC would move to granting annual
licenses until the long-term conditions are
settled.
Interior asked FERC to declare that reasonable
electrical power rates be part of conditions for
interim licenses. PacifiCorp, which wants to end
the bargain-basement rates for project
irrigators and farms adjacent to project lands,
asked the Oregon Public Utility Commission to
set rates significantly higher. The PUC put off
a decision until next spring.
PacifiCorp is in the final stages of closed-door
negotiations with stakeholders on license
conditions.
Dave Kvamme, a PacifiCorp information officer,
said complex FERC relicensing often isn’t
complete on the renewal date. Annual licenses
then fill the gap until FERC gives final project
approval. The company takes issue with
Interior’s position that continuing those low
agricultural power rates ought to be part of
license extensions.
“We would contend there is no connection with
the license and those rates,” Kvamme said by
phone from Portland. “The (power) contract is
separate.”
– TAM MOORE |
