Yuba Water to meet with State Water Board regarding issues in lawsuit
Representatives from the Yuba Water Agency plan to meet with members of the State Water Resources Control Board today to discuss certain requirements imposed by a recent water quality certification that is expected to cost the agency anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion to implement in order to continue operations along the Yuba River, which resulted in Yuba Water filing a lawsuit in both state and federal court in November.
The State Water Board is considering an amendment to clarify some language in the certification, which is the item that will be discussed at today’s board meeting. Yuba
Water General Manager Willie Whittlesey said it’s possible that the amendment is trying to set up an argument that can be used in court that both of the agency’s lawsuits should be dismissed, and that it addresses a need – allowing additional time to file petitions for reconsideration of the certification – that doesn’t exist.
“Our primary goal is to ask the board to withdraw and vacate the water quality certification, and instead, guide a collaborative, transparent process to address any challenges that they feel weren’t significantly covered by the conditions already included in our proposed FERC license,” Whittlesey said. “We plan to do that by sharing with the State Water
Board the story of Yuba County. Because every action taken thus far has been done by the staff of the State Water Board, the board members have never heard from us or anyone about why this certification is so flawed, about the challenges we face here and how our hydropower revenue is turning that around for Yuba County, or about our collaborative solutions to the many challenges California faces, state priorities, such as forest health, energy demand and water supply.”
The Yuba Water Agency is in the process of applying for a new license through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to continue hydroelectric operations along the Yuba River. The State Water Board, which is the state agency responsible for protecting the state’s natural resources, issues water quality certificates as part of that process. However, the agency contends that the board missed its limited window to issue a certification, which was also backed by FERC.
The estimated financial impacts of the State Water Board requirements include about $300 million in lost water transfer revenue, about $200 million in reductions in the value of hydroelectric production and increased costs associated with operations, and at least $600 million in capital, operations and maintenance costs associated with a program to move fish above Englebright Dam, which is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Another concern of the agency’s, Whittlesey said, is that some of the language used in the certification would allow the State
Water Board and its staff to order the agency to release higher flows, modify the river physically and other burdensome actions. Lawsuits against the State Water Board were filed in both the California Superior Court (Fresno County) and the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
“The courts have not taken any action yet, but one thing that we want to stress is that we would dismiss both lawsuits if the State Water Board would withdraw and vacate our certification,” Whittlesey said. “…If the courts find in their favor that they did not actually waive their right to provide a certification on our
FERC license as FERC has found, then we will accept that and work with them on an open, transparent process to prepare a new certification – one that takes into consideration the social, economic and public safety impacts as well as the
environmental.”
The State Water Resources Control Board will take up the discussion at today’s
virtual meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. To view the meeting, go to https://video.calepa.ca.gov/.