Public demands more water in the upper Kern River as part of power plant relicensing

• Editor’s note: Reporting for this story is supported by a grant from the Upper Kern River Fisheries Enhancement Fund.

Residents, boaters, anglers and river lovers had their first say on the overall relicensing applicaiton for Southern California Edison’s power plant above Kernville and they uniformly demanded more water be put back into the upper Kern River.

Commenters to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission urged it to reject Edison’s proposed minimum stream flows in its draft license application and adopt a proposal by the Kern River Boaters that uses an analysis of the Kern River done by the California  Environmental Flows Framework (CEFF) at University of California, Davis.

It’s time, commenters wrote, for regulators to give back enough water for the Kern River to support native cold-water trout, wash down sediment and provide for more consistent public recreation.

• “The public and the environment cannot tolerate the same level of dewatering that SCE proposes for the next 40 years.” – Olly Gotel.
• “The past license was disastrous for whitewater recreation and wildlife habitat for the Kern River.” – Eugene Hacker
• “If KR3 was evaluated today as a new project, it would be laughed out of the board room due to the massive environmental impact compared to the very small amount of power generation.” – Eric Kroh

The comment period for the draft application closed Oct. 1. Edison is expected to file its final application Nov. 30, which will not be open to public comments. But the public can weigh in, until Dec. 10, on a slew of technical studies done by Edison looking at everything from how the plant affects the aesthetics of the river to its impact on road and trail access points.

Studies will continue for at least the next year then the public will have more formal opportunities to comment when FERC initiates its environmental analysis under NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act. Beyond that, the public can submit comments to FERC at any time through its online portal, at https://www.ferc.gov/how-file-comment using Docket Number P-2290-122.

Minimum flows

There are a number of issues people objected to in Edison’s draft license application for its Kern River 3 plant, KR3, but the main focus is minimum stream flows – or how low the river can get before Edison has to stop taking water.

Under the current license, issued in 1996, minimum flows are 40 cubic feet per second in winter and 100 to 130 cfs in summer. Edison takes the water out at Fairview dam near McNallys and runs it in through tunnels 16 miles downstream to the turbines in KR3. The water is then released back into the river near Kernville.

While members of the public and groups such as Kern River Boaters jumped at the chance to get more water in the river, natural resource agencies were less effusive.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which helped design the flow framework under CEFF, did not provide any comments. When contacted by SJV Water for a previous story, Julie Vance, Regional Manager of the agency’s Central Region, wrote in an email that “…the flows below Fairview Dam generally support native fishes below the dam in addition to trout that CDFW plants in this reach.”

It did not provide comments on Edison’s draft license application. 

The department’s stance has flummoxed and frustrated river advocates, especially considering CDFW’s own “instream flow program,” adopted on other rivers, is nearly identical to the CEFF recommended flows, wrote Brett Duxbury with Kern River Boaters in an email to Vance.

“The unimpaired mean flow (on the Kern River) is about 800 cfs — far above those proposed impaired flows, leaving plenty for hydro use,” Duxbury wrote in the Oct. 21 email. “We do not understand why CDFW is failing to demand an MIF (minimum instream flow) supported by the best science, including its own science, for this river.”

Neither CDFW nor Edison provided comments for this story.

Shifting flows

The U.S. Forest Service, meanwhile, did not debate whether Edison’s proposed flows were high enough to to sustain the Kern River’s ecology in its comments on the draft application.

In fact, it only mentioned fish once. And that was in relation to Edison’s proposal to shift some water from the minimum flows required during July and August – the hottest, driest months – to May and June, cooler months when runoff is typically at its peak.

Currently, the license requires a minimum 100 cfs in May/June and 130 cfs in July/August. Edison is proposing to move 30 cfs to May/June.

That modification “…would be expected to have a positive effect on fish recruitment,” the Forest service wrote in its comments on Edison’s Draft License Application.

Duxbury and other longtime river advocates say the exact opposite would happen to cold water fish, including the native Kern River rainbow trout, now a species of concern.

Trout need cold water, preferably nothing above 20-degrees celsius (68-degrees Fahrenheit).

Lower flows, equals warmer water, Duxbury said. He also noted the Edison draft application is rife with references to hardheaded minnows, a fish that tolerates warmer waters but which hasn’t been seen on the Kern since 1998.

“This slightly modified release schedule is intended to balance resource objectives between sportfish (trout) and native species,” the draft license application states and says the shift would “…enhance water temperatures for native fishes, namely hardhead …, resulting in slightly warmer temperatures in the lower portions of the Fairview Dam Bypass Reach.”

That section of river is designated “wild and scenic” by the Forest Service and has been managed as a cold water fishery for decades, according to extensive comments filed by Kern River Boaters. Duxbury said Edison’s draft license application appears to be an attempt to unilaterally change those conditions to a warm water fishery to unburden itself from minimum stream requirements.

The Forest Service did not respond to requests for comment.

‘Not close to adequate’

The Forest Service had much more to say about Edison’s flow proposal with regard to public recreation. It disputed several assertions by Edison that the public largely said river flows did not impact their enjoyment of and ability to use the river. The surveys were conducted at low usage times and when the river was high, according to comments filed by the Forest Service.

It called the Edison data on public perception “misleading” and “not close to adequate.”

Kern River Boaters also took issue with Edison’s proposal to provide 10 days of “white water releases” each spring. The previous number of whitewater release days in the 1996 license had been 39, according to the Kern River Boaters’ comment letter.

KR3 has been a fixture on the North Fork since construction began on the facility in 1919. It began generating power in 1921 and has the capacity to produce 40.2 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 30,000 homes, according to Edison’s draft license application.

The current KR3 license is set to expire in 2026.

 

• Brought to you by funding from the Upper Kern River Fisheries Enhancement Fund