RED BLUFF — PG&E has scheduled a public meeting to gather comments on a draft license amendment application for its Battle Creek hydroelectric system. The public meeting will be held Thursday, Sept. 25, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Hampton Inn, 520 Adobe Road in Red Bluff.
The fish passage in Eagle Canyon Dam south of Manton is part of the Battle Creek project..
Battle Creek, a tributary to the Sacramento River, is being restored through the Battle Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project. The restoration project is a multi-agency effort to increase threatened and endangered Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead trout populations by restoring approximately 42 miles of habitat in Battle Creek and an additional six miles of habitat in its tributaries, while maintaining renewable energy production at the Battle Creek hydroelectric facilities.
The public meeting will focus on PG&E’s draft license amendment application for phase 2 of the restoration project. This public meeting is required by the procedures approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for amending the hydroelectric license. The draft phase 2 license amendment application was distributed to more than 700 interested parties in late August. Copies of the draft will be available at the Sept. 25 public meeting.
The 60-day comment period on the draft amendment application closes on Oct. 28.
Restoration is being accomplished in phases, primarily through the removal of five diversion dams, placement of new fish screens and fish ladders on three other existing dams, and decreasing the volume of water diverted for hydropower production. These changes require PG&E to amend its FERC license issued for the Battle Creek hydroelectric facility.
FERC has already amended the Battle Creek hydroelectric facility license to address the first two phases (phases 1A and 1B) of restoration project work. The current application will seek to amend the project license for the final phase (phase 2) of restoration project work.
Despite the loss of nearly one-third of the hydroelectric output at its Battle Creek hydro facility, PG&E was an early and eager supporter of the project as the company recognized the tremendous environmental benefit the project would have for threatened and endangered anadromous fish (fish that begin life in freshwater creeks and live part of their lives in the ocean).
In 1999, a Memorandum of Understanding between PG&E, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife was signed committing each to the restoration project. In addition, numerous stakeholders, including the Greater Battle Creek Watershed Working Group and Battle Creek Watershed Conservancy, as well as landowners and funding contributors, have played an important role in moving the project forward.
Information about the Restoration Project can be found on the Bureau of Reclamation’s website at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/battlecreek.
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