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Case Study: FERC Hydropower Dam Relicensing
We are encouraging adoption of the principles and concepts of ecologically sustainable water management in a number of FERC hydropower dam relicensing proceedings. Here’s one example:
Roanoke River, North Carolina
An adaptive management program being proposed by a dam owner and a conservation organization for the Roanoke River in North Carolina provides an example of how this process can work. Two private hydropower dams have been impacting fisheries and an extensive floodplain forest along the lower Roanoke River since they began operations in 1955 and 1963. The original operating license for the dams, issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 1951, has expired, requiring the dam owner to obtain a new license. The relicensing process provided an opportunity for scientists and conservation interests to negotiate new operating agreements with the dam owner, Dominion Generation, subject to review and approval by FERC.
With considerable land holdings in the Roanoke River's floodplain, The Nature Conservancy has a lot at stake in the outcome of these relicensing negotiations. Sam Pearsall, a Conservancy ecologist, knew that the dams were causing unnatural flooding in the floodplain forest downstream of the dams. During each summer growing season, young seedlings would sprout on the forest floor. But each year, prolonged high flow releases from the upstream dams would submerge and kill the young trees. Pearsall had formulated some hypotheses about how much flooding the seedlings could take, but he was sufficiently uncertain about his hypotheses to make him hesitant about locking in any new dam management requirements for 30-50 years - the typical term of a FERC license. He also knew that Dominion Generation would be reluctant to commit to license conditions that would require them to change their operations - and reduce their hydropower revenues - when they could not be assured that the new requirements would enable the forest to regenerate properly. To address environmental concerns about the relicensing, Pearsall asked Dominion Generation to implement an adaptive management program.
Under the terms of an agreement reached by the Conservancy and Dominion - now under review by FERC - the dam-induced flow alterations will be reduced over time until the forest begins to reproduce at a sustainable rate. Specifically, Dominion will lessen the unnatural flooding caused by its dams by 50 percent in the first five years, and will continue to reduce its remaining flow impacts by half in each subsequent five-year period. The Conservancy and other conservation interests will monitor the response of the forest. Once the desired ecological conditions are attained, Dominion will need to make no further adjustments.
The adaptive approach proposed for the Roanoke River has many attractive features. Conservationists are assured that desired ecological conditions will be attained, even though it will take some time before the forest regains its health. The utility company is assured that the changes imposed upon its operations will not overshoot what is required to attain the ecological goals, because each restoration step is a short one. Furthermore, the restoration steps are taken at a pace that enables the company to develop ways to offset the loss of electrical power generation capacity and revenues from the Roanoke.
From Rivers for Life: Managing Water for People and Nature by Sandra Postel and Brian Richter. Copyright 2003 Sandra Postel and Brian Richter. Reproduced by permission of Island Press, Washington, D.C. and Covelo, California.
For additional information on adaptive management of flows on the Lower Roanoke please see the scientific journal paper (.pdf, 316 kb) or visit nature.org.
