FERC extends its time frame for rehearing

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has decided it needs a little more time to decide whether or not it will conduct a “rehearing” into how Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts are protecting salmon on the Tuolumne River. That’s a good step, though a better step would be to set a date.

By all accounts, fewer than 250 Chinook salmon returned to the river this year to spawn. Some put the number at around 125. That’s the worst return in a string of terrible returns, continuing a downward spiral that doesn’t have much more room to drop. It’s especially troubling in light of strong spring flows in 2004 and 2005. Such flows have always meant an increase in salmon numbers two years later. That didn’t happen. Part of the problem is undoubtedly connected to a catastrophic decline in salmon all along the West Coast. But there are likely contributing factors specific to the Tuolumne since the number of salmon returning to the Stanislaus and Merced rivers did not fall as precipitously.

Don Pedro Dam belongs to the districts and is operated by TID, but FERC dictates the terms of the operation. Environmental needs must be taken into consideration under a 1995 agreement — which is up for renewal in 2016.
A month ago, a FERC commissioner overrode the recommendations of his agency’s own scientists and decided that the districts’ salmon restoration efforts were sufficient — no matter that the fall run was on the brink of extinction. That brought protests from the California Department of Fish & Game, the U.S. Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service and various environmental organizations, including the Tuolumne River Trust.
FERC’s decision to consider a rehearing represents only the tiniest step forward, but an important step nonetheless.