Board of County Commissioners

Letters regarding Seattle City Dams FERC relicenising process

The following letters have been sent by the Skagit County Board of Commissioners on Seattle City Light's FERC relicensing process. FERC Licenses are issued to dam operators every 50 years. For more information on the FERC process click here.
 

 Seattle City Light operates the Skagit Hydroelectric Project, consisting of three power producing dams on the Skagit River. Seattle is currently seeking a new 50 year federal license, and federal law provides that the license must require Seattle to protect and enhance fisheries through fish passage and other appropriate mitigation.

While the dams provide electricity and flood control, they have a significant impact on the natural environment, and fish habitat in particular. The Skagit is the most important salmon river in Puget Sound, providing half the Chinook on which endangered Orcas rely.

Over the past three decades as mitigation for its impact on Skagit anadromous species, Seattle has purchased approximately 3,300 acres of land in Skagit County and removed it from our tax rolls -- fragmenting our land base, disrupting the Comprehensive Plan, and making it progressively more difficult for local government to provide services and infrastructure.

During that same time period, Skagit anadromous species have fallen by half, with tribal and non-tribal fishery closures the increasing norm. In total, Seattle has spent approximately 37 times less on salmon recovery than the regional hydropower average.

Seattle City Light must commit to a regionally equitable salmon investment, and let Skagit Treaty Tribes guide its deployment.

Letters

King 5 Investigative Series- Skagit: River of Light and Loss