Enloe Dam

Enloe Dam, on the Similkameen River in Northern Washington, blocks over 100 miles of potential salmon and steelhead habitat. The dam has not generated power since the 1950s, but the Okanogan County PUD had planned to resume electrical generation. CELP has been fighting for over a decade to kill this project and have the dam removed. After several court cases and years of litigation the PUD ultimately decided not to pursue the project. Because construction had not started by the July 2019 deadline, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission terminated the PUD’s license. CELP will be working with stakeholder groups going forward to ensure that the dam is properly removed and the Similkameen once again provides free-flowing habitat.

Litigation News: Freeing the Similkameen River

October 2018

by Dan Von Seggern

CELP Continues Fight to Free Similkameen River

The long-running battle to remove this environmentally damaging and economically unjustifiable Enloe Dam continues. A major tributary to the Okanogan River, the Similkameen flows through 122 miles of potential salmon habitat in British Columbia and Washington. A fish-blocking dam was constructed on the River in 1922 and has not generated power since 1958. The Okanogan County Public Utility District (PUD), which owns the dam, is attempting to restart power generation at the dam. The power the dam would produce is not needed and would be much more expensive than the PUD’s current sources of electricity.

On September 13, along with the Sierra Club and Columbiana, CELP filed a Notice of Intent to Sue the Okanogan County PUD as well as the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over the dam’s effect on ESA-listed Upper Columbia steelhead and Chinook salmon. The Notice is the first step towards filing a lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act. We contend that the dam unlawfully harms ESA-listed fish species, that the process of evaluating the dam’s impact on fish was inadequate, and that FERC unlawfully failed to consult with NMFS regarding the listed fish, as the Endangered Species Act requires.

In a separate action, CELP has asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to review FERC’s giving the PUD additional time to begin construction. The Federal Power Act requires that construction be started within the period of a hydroelectric license, and allows only a single two-year extension. When the PUD failed to begin construction within the required time, FERC “stayed” revocation of the license, effectively giving the PUD additional time. CELP believes that FERC lacked authority to “extend” the license in this manner and that it should have allowed public participation in the license amendment process. Learn more about the notice here.