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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2019
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AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka
Federal legislation to assess 31 tribal fi shing sites in Oregon and Washington state and make
critical improvements to sewer and water systems has passed the U.S. House after three years
of delays.
Tribal fi shing bill clears US House
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
Pacifi c Northwest tribes
fi ghting to get the U.S. gov-
ernment to fully compen-
sate them for the loss of
dozens of homes and tradi-
tional fi shing encampments
to fl ooding caused by hydro-
electric dams rejoiced Tues-
day after federal legisla-
tion to address their cause
cleared a fi rst hurdle.
A key bill that cleared
the U.S. House on Mon-
day would provide $11 mil-
lion for improvements at
alternative fi shing sites cre-
ated by the U.S. govern-
ment after several massive
dams built on the Columbia
River caused fl ooding that
destroyed tribal fi shing sites
beginning in the 1930s.
Over the years, the gov-
ernment has created 31
so-called “in lieu” fi sh-
ing sites to compensate the
tribes, but demand is high
and several hundred tribal
members now live year-
round at camps that were
intended to be seasonal, said
Charles Hudson, director of
government affairs with the
Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission.
Conditions at some of
the larger sites are unsani-
tary, with sewer problems,
crowding and unsafe drink-
ing water, he said.
The commission has
identifi ed 18 sites that need
particular attention in both
Oregon and Washington
state, including a site called
Lone Pine, near The Dalles,
and another called Cooks on
the Washington side of the
river.
“There are often multi-
ple generations living on the
sites,” he said. “The term
‘usual and accustomed fi sh-
ing places’ is a term of law
and culture and people want
to live close to where their
right to fi sh is — and for
many of the people living
in these areas, they are liv-
ing as close as they possibly
can.”
The bill also calls on
the U.S. Bureau of Indian
Affairs to assess all 31 sites
dedicated to enabling the
Nez Perce, Umatilla, Con-
federated Tribes of the
Warm Springs and Yakama
to carry out their federally
protected right to fi sh the
river.
U.S. Rep. Earl Blume-
nauer, an Oregon Demo-
crat, introduced the House
bill after visiting Lone Pine
in 2016 and seeing the con-
ditions there fi rst-hand. His
visit was prompted by an
investigation by The Ore-
gonian newspaper that
described the U.S. govern-
ment’s failure to meet its
promises.
“Thanks to this bill, tribal
communities will see much-
needed, tangible improve-
ments that will improve
their quality of life and for-
tify their connection to the
Columbia,”
Blumenauer
said in a statement. “We
must ensure the life-blood
of their heritage is protected
and respected.”
The bill now heads to the
U.S. Senate, where similar
legislation is pending.
A study undertaken by
the Army Corps of Engi-
neers
determined
that
around the massive Bon-
neville Dam alone, tribal
members had lost more than
80 homes that have not been
replaced, Hudson said. The
construction of major dams
in John Day and The Dalles
also caused signifi cant
losses, although those have
not been quantifi ed, he said.
An inter-tribal group is
working to document how
much housing was lost and
come up with a proposal for
adequate mitigation more
than 70 years later, he added.
Affordable housing close to
fi shing grounds is a critical
need, Hudson said.
“There is a lot of histor-
ical mining of documents
that has gone on, but a lot
more is needed,” he said.
“Quantifi cation is a tricky
one, because is a one-for-
one replacement the right
thing 70 years hence? Is
there a survivor of that who
was directly impacted by the
loss of his or her home? Are
there descendants who con-
tinue to be impacted?”
Large grid storage project near
Klamath Falls gets federal approval
By JES BURNS and
COURTNEY FLATT
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Federal energy regula-
tors granted approval and a
license Tuesday to an energy
storage project near Klam-
ath Falls . It’s the fi rst facil-
ity of its kind in decades to
be licensed in the Pacifi c
Northwest and, if built, will
be the largest energy storage
facility in the region.
Developers of Swan
Lake North pumped storage
plan to build a new reservoir
system to store electricity
from the grid. When elec-
tricity is plentiful and inex-
pensive, pumps will push
water to a 60-acre reservoir
high on a hill. Then when
demand rises, the facility
will release that water over
turbines to a lower reser-
voir. As with a hydroelectric
dam, the spinning turbines
generate electricity that can
then be fed back to supple-
ment the grid.
The $800 million project
has a 393-megawatt capac-
ity — enough to meet the
instantaneous demand of up
to 390,000 homes.
Tuesday’s
approval
comes one day before the
public gets a chance to weigh
in on a separate, potentially
much larger pumped-hy-
dro project elsewhere in the
Pacifi c Northwest.
That project would be
developed outside Golden-
dale, Washington.
Rye Development and
National Grid Ventures are
working to develop both the
Swan Lake and Goldendale
e nergy storage projects.
“We are very pleased that
the (Federal Energy Reg-
ulatory) Commission has
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Miracle-Ear Center
Miracle- Ear Center
Youngs Bay Plaza
173 S. Hwy 101
Warrenton, OR 97146
(503) 836-7921
2505 Main Ave N, Suite C
Tillamook, OR 97141
(503) 836-7926
One More Thing
Jes Burns/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Rye Development plans to build a new pumped hydro energy
storage facility at this site. The lower reservoir would be
located on the low hill to the left, while the upper reservoir
would be built up on the snowy ridge to the right.
issued a 50-year construc-
tion and operational license
for the project and we look
forward to the next phase of
development,” Erik Steimle,
Rye Development’s vice
president, said in an email
statement.
Bringing this kind of
grid storage online has
widely been seen as neces-
sary to the development of
alternative energy sources
like wind and solar, which
don’t continuously produce
electricity.
Swan Lake North is
located about 10 miles
northeast of Klamath Falls in
a rural farming area. Neigh-
bors organized to oppose the
project. Their primary con-
cern is the planned construc-
tion of 33 miles of new high
voltage power lines that
will run across federal and
private land. The lines are
likely to disrupt farm prac-
tices and local views.
Dan Cohan, who lives
along the power line path,
said the approval of the
project has been expected
in the community. Cohan’s
primary concern is the effect
the power lines will have on
migratory birds in the area.
The region is a major stop-
over for the Pacifi c Flyway,
one of the major migratory
bird paths in the country.
“I think there is going to
be an impact,” Cohan said.
“They’re going to have bird
strikes on the infrastructure
and the power lines — just
because of the sheer density
of waterfowl and migra-
tory birds that occur in this
area.”
He still hopes, despite
Swan Lake being granted
a license, the company will
do more to protect birds and
farm life in the area.
Steimle said Swan Lake
North will move into the
pre construction
phase,
which includes contracting
and equipment procurement
for the project.
The proposed pumped
hydro storage project in Gol-
dendale would have three
times the storage capacity as
Swan Lake.
Each newly built reser-
voir in the Goldendale proj-
ect would be about 60 acres
in size. The pipe — also
known as a penstock —
and power house are under-
ground. The capacity of the
project is 1,200 megawatts.
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Miracle-Ear Center
Miracle- Ear Center
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Warrenton, OR 97146
(503) 836-7921
2505 Main Ave N, Suite C
Tillamook, OR 97141
(503) 836-7926
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