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Monthly Report Archive

YBSA Monthly Report December, 2010

YBSA Monthly Report
December, 2010

Integrated Plan Work Group Meeting: Dan Silvers, Department of Ecology consultant, opened the December Integrated Plan Work Group meeting stating, “Don’t worry about the language in the plan, the details are important, but this document is not the last word on the details”.

YBSA agreed moving forward with the Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan (I.P.) was beneficial to the Yakima Basin. More information is needed on the cost/benefit of each of the 7 elements of the plan. The plan does not provide enough water to meet the needs of instream flow (fish), a minimum of 70% water available during drought years (ag), and water needed to address the problem identified in the USGS report on the decline of instream flow and water levels due to ground water withdrawals.

Other members of the Work Group stated their concerns with the I.P. but wanted to move forward to the next step to develop a final plan and an environmental review.

One dissenting vote came from Jeff Thomas, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He said the plan contains too many uncertainties for improving migratory fish populations and would damage spotted owl habitat at Bumping Lake and sage grouse habitat in the Wymer footprint.
“The fish are still getting the scraps,” Thomas told the group.
He also questioned why the plan doesn’t deal with groundwater issues, which led to a moratorium on new wells in upper Kittitas County. The ban, imposed about the time the work group began meeting, was prompted by new domestic wells that are taking water belonging to irrigators and fish.

David Lester Yakima Herald-Republic Saturday, December 18, 2010

Renewable Resources: The development of pumped storage as an energy storage solution and its capacity designed to integrate variable renewable resources, wind generation, into the electric grid provides us an opportunity to improve the Black Rock project economies and improve the management of water that would improve both water storage and salmon restoration in the Yakima River Basin.

B.P.A. is reviewing the situation where federal hydropower and wind output exceeds load and transmission capabilities. A solution could include pumping water during extremely low or negative power prices by pumping water into a storage reservoir and then provide the ability to generate power at times when power prices are high.

YBSA is embarking on a new approach way beyond the DOE-BOR plan to acquire a large quantity of stored water lowering costs and getting resources to increase benefits to the Yakima Basin. The pumped storage project would provide water storage, salmon restoration, and an opportunity to assist in the integration of wind generation into the northwest grid.

A Columbia Basin Renewable Energy Integration and Storage Project would identify energy-related benefits from the project that have not been previously considered.

YBSA wishes you a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

See updated information that includes video of salmon spawning in the Yakima River Basin at www.ybsa.org