BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022 A3
LOCAL & REGION
Dam licensing effort in Hells Canyon advances
BY KEITH RIDLER
Associated Press
BOISE — An Idaho public utility’s
nearly two-decade effort to renew its
license for a three-dam hydroelec-
tric project on the Snake River on
the Idaho-Oregon border is moving
forward with federal regulators an-
nouncing plans to update an envi-
ronmental study.
The Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission this month said it will
prepare a supplemental Environmen-
tal Impact Statement to consider new
developments since it completed the
2007 document for Idaho Power’s
Hells Canyon Project. The commis-
sion expects to complete the supple-
mental review that includes a draft
and public comments in late 2023.
Brett Dumas, director of Environ-
mental Affairs for Idaho Power, said
the company wanted the supplemen-
tal impact statement to bolster the
process against potential lawsuits.
“We felt if they didn’t take this step,
they would be taking some legal risk,”
Dumas said.
Hells Canyon is a mile-deep can-
yon carved by the Snake River, much
of it popular for recreation but in-
accessible by road. The Hells Can-
yon Complex includes Hells Canyon
Dam, Brownlee Dam and Ox-
bow Dam built from the late 1950s
through the 1960s.
The commission issued a 50-year
license for the project in 1955, which
expired in 2005. Idaho Power, start-
ing in 2003, began trying to obtain a
Patrols
Continued from A1
1975.
In addition to controlling
mosquitoes, Hutchinson
maintains a network of mos-
quito traps. The traps help
him monitor mosquito pop-
ulations around the district,
and he sends “pools” of mos-
quitoes — usually 30 to 50
bugs — to a lab at Oregon
State University to be tested
for West Nile virus and other
mosquito-borne diseases.
Because mosquitoes
hatched later than normal this
year, Hutchinson only recently
sent the first mosquitoes of the
year to the lab.
“I think we can all agree 24/7’s ideal. If we can figure out
a way to get there, that’s great. If we can’t, financially,
then maybe we come up with something else.”
schen abstained from voting
due to a conflict of interest on
one item. Damschen owns
property in the Scenic Vista
subdivision, and the budget
includes $50,000 to pave an
approximately 480-foot sec-
tion of Indiana Avenue, near
the city’s covered reservoir, at
the request of residents in a
subdivision accessed by that
street.
The City Council initially
approved the request in June
2021.
The city’s budget board,
which consists of the seven
city councilors and seven
community members, voted
in May to remove that money
from the budget, but the
council voted 3-2 on June 14
to reinstate that amount for
the paving.
Councilor Jason Spriet, who
was absent from the June 14
meeting, said on Tuesday that
he couldn’t vote for a budget
with the $50,000 for Indiana
Avenue considering the dis-
cussion earlier in the meeting
about the possible need for
more money to maintain 24-
hour police patrols.
— Ty Duby, Baker City Police Chief
Sidway said.
He said that cutting patrol
hours might look good on pa-
per, based on the relative lack
of calls during certain periods,
but he pointed out that when
people desperately need a po-
lice officer, time is essential.
“How about the time when
somebody’s hurt or they
fought with someone trying
to break into their house and
they call and it’s during those
hours that we’re not saying
there’s going to be coverage
but there will be somebody
on call,” Sidway said. “In most
cases, that doesn’t work. I hon-
estly feel we need to have a po-
lice service 24/7.”
Budget adoption
During Tuesday’s meeting
councilors adopted the budget
for the fiscal year that starts
July 1.
Councilor Kenyon Dam-
We service what we sell
collects and concentrates it, so they
bear some responsibility here.”
He said he’d like to see the sup-
plemental impact statement include
more robust mitigation requirements
than what is contained in the 2007
document.
Idaho Power in July 2020 sup-
plemented its license application to
include an analysis of fish-related
enhancement measures. In October
2020, the company also filed draft
biological assessments with the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service and the Na-
tional Marine Fisheries Service.
The supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement will consider all
those new details in accordance with
the National Environmental Policy
Act, which requires federal agencies
to analyze environmental effects of
proposed actions before making de-
cisions.
Idaho Power has more than
600,000 customers in southern Idaho
and eastern Oregon. The company
has 17 hydroelectric facilities on the
Snake River and its tributaries, with
the Hells Canyon Complex on the
Snake River providing about 70% of
the company’s hydroelectric generat-
ing capacity and 30% of the compa-
ny’s total generating capacity.
Idaho Power has a stated goal of
providing 100% clean energy by 2045
while keeping prices low and reliabil-
ity high.
“Getting a new license for Hells
Canyon is critical for that,” Dumas
said.
Mosquitoes are a vector, or
carrier, for West Nile virus,
and they can pass the virus to
people, horses and birds. The
virus usually causes flu-like
symptoms in humans, but can
cause death in rare cases.
In 2021, a total of 19 mos-
quito pools from Baker
County tested positive for
West Nile virus, and one per-
son was infected, according
to the Oregon Health Author-
ity. Tests have found the virus
in mosquitoes in eight out
of the past 10 years in Baker
County.
Hutchinson said he and his
crew have mostly found flood-
water mosquitoes this year,
rather than the culex tarsalis
mosquito, the most likely vec-
tor for West Nile virus in East-
ern Oregon.
Culex tarsalis mosquitoes
typically start to show up in
July.
District residents can re-
port mosquito infestations,
request treatment, and view
fogging and spraying sched-
ules on the district website,
www.bvvcd.org. Residents
can also report mosquito
problems by calling 541-523-
1151.
Forestry department
starts fire season July 1
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Warming
temperatures and changing
fuel conditions are prompt-
ing the Oregon Department
of Forestry to begin fire sea-
son on private forest lands
in Northeast Oregon.
Fire season will be at
12:01 a.m. Friday, July 1, for
forest and range lands pro-
tected by ODF Northeast
Oregon District, according
to an announcement from
the department.
“We’ve seen a little re-
prieve this spring and early
summer. Fire season has
been announced in June
for the past few years, so it’s
been good to have some de-
lay this year,” Matt Howard,
an ODF district forester,
said.
The fire season declara-
tion places fire prevention
restrictions on landowners
and the public. Additionally,
fire prevention regulations
on industrial logging and
forest management activi-
ties are put into place. Lands
affected include private,
state, county, municipal
and tribal lands in Union,
Baker, Wallowa and Uma-
tilla counties along with
small portions of Malheur,
Morrow and Grant counties
within the Northeast Ore-
gon Forest Protection Dis-
trict. This area encompasses
approximately 2 million
acres of protected lands.
“Those spring storms
have provided some much-
needed moisture. However,
this moisture has caused a
lot of growth in our fine fu-
els, such as grasses, small
brush and shrubs,” Howard
said. “These are often our
carrier fuels and are more
susceptible to quickly dry-
ing and becoming ready-to-
burn faster.”
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1
R GU
’S
ing as acting mayor in place of
Mayor Kerry McQuisten, who
was absent, said the city needs
to find some way to come
up with more money to hire
more patrol officers.
Dixon noted that the city is
using money from the federal
American Rescue Plan Act of
2021 to hire one new officer
this year.
“We’re not going to have
that after this coming fiscal
year,” she said.
Council Shane Alderson
asked if there was a way the
city could contract with the
Baker County Sheriff’s Office
for supplemental patrolling.
Duby said he doubted that
would be feasible, since nei-
ther the Sheriff’s Office nor
the Oregon State Police main-
tain 24-hour patrolling now.
Duby said the Baker City
Police Department is bud-
geted for 14 sworn officers
— eight patrol officers, three
sergeants (one detective and
two patrol), two detectives and
the chief.
He said the La Grande Po-
lice Department has 19 sworn
officers, including 10 patrol
officers.
Todd Sidway, a Baker City
resident and a 25-year retired
officer with the Palm Beach
County, Florida, Sheriff’s Of-
fice, told councilors he’s con-
cerned about the possibility of
reducing patrols.
“First, I’d like to say the po-
lice department we have is
very good and they are doing,
I think, a fantastic job,” Sid-
way said.
He agreed with Duby and
Cannon that the department’s
attrition rate is too high, and
that officers not being able to
use their earned time off is
one reason.
“We’re losing officers faster
and more than we should,”
N
Duby said he didn’t intend
that the prototype schedule
would be posted on social me-
dia. He also said he was dis-
appointed that some people
who commented were blam-
ing Cannon. Duby said he, not
Cannon, has taken the lead on
assessing potential changes to
the patrol schedule.
Cannon said in an interview
Monday that if the city did
end 24-hour patrols, during
periods when officers weren’t
driving around town, an of-
ficer would be on call to re-
spond to calls to the dispatch
center and, depending on the
circumstances, call in an off-
duty officer to respond.
Duby told councilors that
keeping 24-hour patrols is
difficult even when the de-
partment has eight patrol of-
ficers, which is what the city’s
budget includes. Right now
the department has six patrol
officers, with one scheduled to
finish training and be available
in August. Duby said the city
interviewed another officer
candidate this week.
“I think we can all agree
24/7’s ideal,” Duby told coun-
cilors. “If we can figure out a
way to get there, that’s great.
If we can’t, financially, then
maybe we come up with
something else.”
With current staffing, Duby
said the department often has
to call in off-duty officers to
work on overtime. He said of-
ficers sometimes aren’t able
to take time off that they’ve
earned because they’re needed
to fill a patrol shift.
“They’re overworked, hon-
estly,” Duby said.
He and Cannon attribute
that in part to what Cannon
described in an email as “an
undesirable turnover rate
among officers.
Duby said the department
has had an average of one or
two officers resign each year
for more than a decade.
Councilor Joanna Dixon,
who oversaw Tuesday’s meet-
cently his crew has been treat-
ing flood irrigated areas and
places where flooding has oc-
curred from the soggy spring
weather. He said aerial appli-
cations are all about timing.
“The biggest restrictions
are wind and temperature,”
Hutchinson said. “In the low
50s, (mosquitoes) start to be-
come less active. You need
some breeze to get the spray
to drift, but once it gets above
10 mph, it’s too windy to be
effective.”
Treatment of flood irrigated
pastures originally prompted
the creation of BVVCD in
15 % & 10 %
2
Early in the season,
Hutchinson and his crew of
technicians spray breeding
sites of mosquito larvae with
larvicides — killing the bugs
before they hatch. Workers ap-
ply larvicides in storm drains,
a major source of larvae,
throughout mosquito season,
as well as other breeding sites.
But if the bugs hatch and
take to the air, adult mosqui-
toes become a moving and
more elusive target, calling
for Hutchinson to use other
tactics.
In a process called “fog-
ging,” a truck or ATV sprays
a low-volume cloud of pes-
ticide designed to kill adult
mosquitoes — a tactic known
as adulticiding. When mos-
quito swarms become too
dense or access is limited,
Hutchinson hires an air-
plane to drop both larvicide
and adulticide on breeding
grounds in areas infested
with adult mosquitoes.
Spraying is more effective
at dusk and dawn, when the
bugs are active, he said.
Hutchinson said that re-
mental laws.
“So, clearly, it’s time for a new li-
cense and some mitigation on the
project,” he said.
Dumas said obtaining a 50-year
license would provide certainty to
allow the company to begin on long-
planned projects that include recre-
ation and restoration work.
Among the events that have hap-
pened since the 2007 impact study,
Idaho and Oregon in 2019 reached an
agreement that requires Idaho Power
to spend $312 million on water qual-
ity and habitat improvements, and
Idaho and Oregon each issued water
RD
Continued from A1
new 50-year license from the com-
mission and submitted a relicensing
application. It has been operating on
annual renewal of the existing license
since it expired.
The dams blocked salmon and
steelhead from traveling upstream,
eliminating about 80% of spawning
habitat for Snake River fall chinook
and steelhead. The company com-
pensates by paying for salmon and
steelhead hatchery programs below
the dams.
Kevin Lewis, a consultant for
Idaho Rivers United, said the 1955
license was created before environ-
TH
Mosquitoes
Idaho Power Company/Contributed Photo, File
Hells Canyon Dam is part of Idaho Power’s complex of three dams on the Snake
River. The others are Oxbow and Brownlee. The company is seeking a new federal li-
cense for the complex.
quality certifications for the project
under the Clean Water Act.
Idaho Power had been caught in
the middle of a fight between Ore-
gon and Idaho. Oregon insisted on
returning federally protected salmon
and steelhead above the dams. Idaho
officials didn’t want salmon and
steelhead, listed under the Endan-
gered Species Act, above the dams
that could lead to environmental law-
suits and force expensive mitigation
work.
The finished deal the two states
reached involves a 20-year study
with fish moved above Hells Canyon
Dam, the lowest dam in the complex,
but not above the other two dams
that would allow fish into the mid-
dle section of the Snake River and
into southern Idaho. After the 20-
year study, officials will consider re-
turning salmon and steelhead to that
area. That section is considered poor
habitat because it flows through en-
vironmentally degraded agricultural
areas.
Pollution leaving those agricul-
tural areas, which are not controlled
by Idaho Power, accumulates at the
Hells Canyon Complex, elevating
levels of methylmercury that accu-
mulates in organisms and works its
way up the food chain to fish. Meth-
ylmercury also travels downstream
from the dams.
Idaho Power “ends up on the re-
ceiving end of a lot of pollution com-
ing down from further up the basin,”
said Lewis. “But their project is what
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