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CapitalPress.com
Friday, January 14, 2022
Cat Creek hydro project makes progress
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Developers of a unique
pumped-storage hydropower
project planned upstream
from Anderson Ranch Reser-
voir in Idaho say it will also
include wind and solar power
generation.
The Boise-based Cat
Creek Energy LLC’s pre-ap-
plication document filed with
the Federal Energy Regula-
tory Commission provides
detailed information about
the project.
Project consultant Dave
Tuthill of Idaho Water Engi-
neering in Boise said the
pre-application initiates a for-
mal commission approval
process. The filing triggered
a comment period through
Feb. 11.
Cat Creek’s plan has been
in the works for about eight
years. It already is under
consideration by the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation, the
Idaho Department of Water
Resources, and the state
Department of Environmen-
tal Quality. Idaho Fish and
Game also is a participant.
Project elements include
Cat Creek Energy
Location of the proposed Cat Creek Energy and Water Storage Renewable Power Station.
wind, solar and hydroelectric
power generation, and a new
reservoir upstream from the
Anderson Ranch Reservoir.
Elmore
County
has
already granted condition-
al-use approval to Cat Creek’s
wind, solar, pumped-storage
hydro, transmission and sub-
station components.
Developers aim to pump
water up to the Cat Creek
reservoir when electricity
is cheap — like when the
wind is blowing and the sun
is shining — and release it
back downstream to generate
hydropower when electricity
is more expensive.
Concerns raised over
the years include poten-
tial impacts on fish, wildlife,
the environment and water
rights, and the extent to which
Cat Creek would need to buy
power for pumping.
Tuthill said concerns about
water-temperature impacts on
fisheries will be addressed by
“an extensive monitoring and
modeling effort defined in the
(pre-application document).”
Cat Creek’s proposal
includes up to 39 wind tur-
bines and a 480-acre solar
array. Supplemental power
from wind and solar genera-
tion may be used to offset the
pumping load, the document
said.
The 720-megawatt project
would be integrated into the
power grid.
Tuthill said goals include
producing power for Idaho
and the West, making solar
and wind power available
more consistently by storing
water in the upper reservoir,
“which functions like a bat-
tery,” and increasing water
supply for irrigation and other
uses.
He said that of the Cat
Creek reservoir’s 100,000
acre-feet of water, 20,000
would be needed to operate
the pumped-storage hydro-
power system and 80,000
would be available for down-
stream uses.
A separate plan by the
Bureau of Reclamation and
the Idaho Water Resource
Board would store an addi-
tional 29,000 acre-feet in
Anderson Ranch Reser-
voir by raising the 413-foot
dam by 6 feet. The reservoir
is on the South Fork Boise
River. Its current capacity is
413,000 acre-feet.
A business entity fil-
ing with the Idaho Secretary
of State’s office lists John
Faulkner of Gooding as Cat
Creek Energy LLC’s regis-
tered agent. The Idaho Moun-
tain Express newspaper in
May reported the Faulkner
sheep-ranching family pro-
poses the project.
The pre-application docu-
ment estimates it would gen-
erate annual output worth
$60.4 million and annual
earnings of $19.8 million.
Earnings estimates are based
on national modeling and
could change.
The
pumped-storage
hydro portion would cost
around $2 billion to construct
“and will have long-term
benefits for the community
in taxes, jobs and services,”
said Peggy Beltrone, a public
policy adviser for Cat Creek
Energy.
Cat Creek representatives
told FERC in the pre-appli-
cation document that they
expect to submit a draft
license application in sum-
mer 2023.
WSU AgWeatherNet to offer its first weather school
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
WSU Weather School
https://weather.wsu.edu/?p=119750
The new Washington
State University AgWeath-
erNet school will help
farmers set up weather sta-
tions in their fields during
an online class next month.
The free school will
be offered virtually at
7:50 a.m. Feb. 4.
The school will show
stakeholders
how
the
weather network collects
and uses data from 200
public stations and about
200 private stations, deliv-
ering data to 13,000 regis-
tered users and other state
residents.
At its peak during the
summer and winter, the
network web portal has
100,000-plus visitors per
day, said Lav Khot, network
director.
Many growers have
established private weather
stations. Khot wants to help
them set up and maintain
the stations so the data is
useful.
In 2020, the network ini-
tiated a program to incor-
porate approved private
weather stations into its net-
work of federal stations and
AgWeatherNet-maintained
stations.
Stations installed by
AgWeatherNet
maintain
particular protocols. Some
of the private stations are
showing
maintenance
issues, which affects data
quality, Khot said.
“The purpose of this
weather school is to let
stakeholders gauge whether
they really need a private
station or a network like
ours is sufficient,” he said.
The
school
was
requested by farmers, said
Gwen Hoheisel, regional
specialist and director of
WSU Extension in Benton
County.
Many farmers are notic-
ing a difference between
commercial weather sta-
tions set up in-field com-
pared to out of field, she
said.
Public weather stations
from AgWeatherNet or
NOAA are set up in an open
field, not in the middle of an
apple orchard or blueberry
field, she said.
“If you’re trying to model
something that’s happening
in your orchard, potato field
or crop, having a weather
station as close as possi-
ble with that real data is
really important,” she said.
“There’s going to be people
that would like more precise
information.”
Farmers should leave
the school knowing how to
purchase and establish an
on-farm weather station,
Hoheisel said.
The school will include
site selection, maintenance
and how to collect and use
data.
They should also be able
to assess data from other
public or private sources,
Hoheisel said.
WSU
A Washington State University AgWeatherNet system
monitors conditions in a hop yard.
Technology has improved
over the past decade, Khot
said.
Sensors on stations are
becoming smaller and more
compact, and easier to install
and maintain, he said.
Previously, most network
data was collected 5 to 6 feet
above ground level, adher-
ing to National Weather Ser-
vice protocols, but as the
state transitions to towers as
part of building a “mesonet”
network, researchers are
also collecting wind and air
temperature data at about
30 feet above ground level,
Khot said, giving a better
representation of tempera-
ture inversion scenarios spe-
cific to a particular site.
“In the next few years, we
will have about 100 of these
towers collecting profes-
sional-plus quality weather
data,” he said.
The weather school may
become an annual event,
Khot said.
“We want to make the
weather a little bit more
meaningful to the growers,”
he said.
Washington high
court shuts door on
builders’ veto appeal
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
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HERBICIDE
S264186-1
OLYMPIA — The Wash-
ington Supreme Court has
declined to hear a challenge
to a partial veto by Gov. Jay
Inslee in 2019 that nixed
three projects that would
have protected farmland.
Inslee also vetoed a sub-
section in the same bill that
made higher fines for dis-
turbing riverbeds dependent
on approving the projects.
The Building Industry
Association of Washing-
ton claimed the governor
exceeded his authority by
vetoing less than an entire
section, foiling what law-
makers intended.
Lower courts didn’t rule
on the veto, but rejected
BIAW’s suit, ruling the
group didn’t have standing
to sue because none of its
members have been levied
the higher fines.
BIAW attorney Jackson
Maynard Jr. said Thursday
he’s disappointed the court
declined to hear the appeal,
but that the BIAW will con-
tinue to press the issue in
court.
The BIAW already has
filed a separate lawsuit in
Thurston County Superior
Court claiming that Fish
and Wildlife raised fines to
$10,000 a day from $100
after an unlawful veto.
“One way or another,
we’re going to get this ille-
gal veto challenged,” May-
nard said.
The attorney general’s
office argued that disputes
over the governor’s veto
powers should be worked
out between the governor
and Legislature.
Although the BIAW
is concerned about build-
ers facing $10,000 per day
fines, the dispute rose over
opposition to proposed river
projects in Grays Harbor,
Snohomish and Whatcom
counties.
Lawmakers who backed
the projects hoped to
encourage work to keep
farmland from eroding
while also enhancing fish
habitat. The proposed proj-
ects raised the possibility
of removing gravel from
rivers.
In his veto message, Ins-
lee said the farmland proj-
ects didn’t belong in the
bill, which dealt with orca
recovery.
The attorney general
argued that cagey lawmak-
ers crafted the bill to try to
force Inslee to accept proj-
ects he opposed in return
for the higher fines he
supported.