News Release
| Release Number: | 00-022 |
| Dated: | 2/29/2000 |
| Contact: | Heidi Y. Helwig, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore.--The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Fiscal Year 2001 (FY 01) budget, as transmitted to Congress by President Bill Clinton, will fund a variety of projects in the Civil Works arena for a little more than $4 billion. At the local level, the Corps’ Portland District is expected to receive more than $148 million of the national budget to fund new and ongoing work in the Rogue, Willamette and Columbia river basins.
Each of the District’s projects will, in some way, support the Corps’ goal of meeting the nation’s water resources needs, maintaining efficient operations, maintaining and managing the nation’s navigable waterways and effectively operating flood damage reduction and multiple-purpose projects. The Corps also strives for equitable regulation of wetlands and the restoration of important environmental resources.
Operation and Maintenance of Corps projects
The Corps operates 19 multiple purpose projects in Portland District’s boundaries, the sediment retention structure built after the1980 Mount St. Helens' eruption and the Willow Creek project near Heppner, Ore. About $70.1 million is proposed for the Corps’ FY 01 operation and maintenance (O&M) activities, including work at the multiple-purpose projects along the Columbia River and in the Willamette and Rogue river basins.
One of the Corps’ O&M missions is maintaining waterways in the Columbia and Willamette rivers and along the Oregon and Washington coastlines for commercial and recreational uses.
About $41 million is proposed to fund hydrographic surveys and dredging, as well as monitoring and maintaining navigation structures, such as jetties and dikes. Some of this money is earmarked for a major rehabilitation study of the North Jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River. Also, about $6.1 million is included for major maintenance repair of the Yaquina North Jetty.
Navigation projects are funded at the following locations: in Oregon on the Chetco, Columbia, Coquille, Umpqua and Siuslaw rivers, in the Rogue River at Gold Beach, Skipanon Channel at Warrenton, and in Coos Bay, Depoe Bay, Tillamook Bay, Yaquina Bay and Port Orford. This funding also includes dollars to operate the Willamette Falls Locks at West Linn, Ore.
Flood damage reduction is another Corps O&M mission. About $5.7 million is proposed to fund the operation, inspection and maintenance of the flood damage reduction structures, such as dikes and levees, and the Corps’ reservoir projects in the Rogue and Willamette basins. The initial investment in flood damage reduction projects throughout the District, including reservoir and bank protection projects, was $1.2 billion dollars. Flood damages prevented since those projects were constructed total more than $22.9 billion.
A proposed $285,000 will fund the Corps’ Willamette River Basin Bank Protection program, which protects agricultural lands as well as urban and suburban areas from erosion damage. This project includes riverbank revetments, pile and timber bulkheads, drift barriers, minor channel improvements and maintenance of existing structures.
The day-to-day operation and maintenance of the Corps’ multiple purpose projects, including navigation locks and recreational facilities, will cost a proposed $23.4 million in FY 01.
Hydropower
The Corps has been producing power since 1938 when Bonneville Dam’s first powerhouse came online. The hydropower purpose at the Corps’ multiple purpose projects is now funded directly by the Bonneville Power Administration, the organization that markets the power generated by the Corps. In FY 01, Portland District will receive an estimated $47.3 million from BPA for routine operation and maintenance at the hydropower projects, which collectively produce an average of 29.6 million megawatt hours of electricity annually for a wholesale value of $494 million.
Preconstruction engineering and design
The ongoing Columbia River Channel Improvements Study would be funded at $923,000 under this program for FY 01. The Corps and six of the lower Columbia River ports acting as the non-federal sponsors completed a five-year feasibility study which found that a deeper Columbia River channel (from Portland to the mouth) is needed to accommodate larger and more efficient vessels and to reduce delays that currently occur when ships must schedule their movements to coincide with high tides. FY 01 funds will be used to continue preconstruction engineering and design.
Construction
One of the bigger programs under the Corps’ construction program is the Columbia River Juvenile Fish Mitigation Program. It encompasses Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day dams in Portland District and five other locations within the Corps’ Walla Walla District. Under this program, the U.S. Congress has authorized the design, testing and construction of new or improved fish bypass facilities to increase the survival of migrating salmon and steelhead trout.
In FY 01 the Columbia River Fish Mitigation Project is funded at $91 million; Portland District will receive about half of this amount to fund evaluations and improvements in fish passage facilities at John Day, The Dalles and Bonneville projects, and participate with Walla Walla District in systemwide evaluations. One of the main beneficiaries will be the Bonneville Second Powerhouse Fish Guidance Efficiency Project. In FY 01, Corps hydraulic engineers and biologists will continue hydraulic modeling and field tests to help determine possible improvements needed to guide fish away from the turbines and toward the juvenile bypass system. The Corps also will continue evaluating surface bypass prototypes and extended length fish screens at the first powerhouse.
At John Day, the Corps will use a portion of the money to fund continued development of extended screens and surface bypass systems.
At The Dalles, the Corps would fund surface bypass studies and continue survival evaluations of juveniles passing over the spillway. Other systemwide work includes studies of turbine passage, gas abatement and adult passage improvements. The Corps’ Walla Walla District will use the balance of the fish mitigation program funds for similar projects at McNary Dam on the Columbia River and the four lower Snake River projects.
The Corps also is continuing its work on treaty fishing sites along the Columbia River. At a proposed total of $5 million, the Corps will continue with design and construction of several sites on the Columbia River at the Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day pools for Native American tribes which have treaty fishing rights on the river. The Corps will complete 15 more sites; sixteen sites have been completed.
The Corps is in its second phase of the Bonneville Major Rehabilitation Project. Work in FY 01 will continue the effort to replace the windings of six generators and replace 10 turbines. The Corps will receive a proposed $6.1 million for the work.
In 1999, the Corps installed the first minimum gap runner (MGR) in units #6 and #4 at the first powerhouse as part of the Bonneville First Powerhouse Rehabilitation Program. The MGR runner design was created to be more efficient for both fish passage and for power production. The new design nearly eliminates the gaps in which fish may get caught when the turbine is operating, giving it the name of "minimum gap" runner.
Depending on future years’ funding, the plan is to complete the work by the year 2008. Upon completion, generation capability will increase enough to provide electricity for 16,000 more homes in an average year. Depending on the first year’s biological test results, the Corps may test existing units at other Columbia River dams to see if the MGR design or a modified version will potentially enhance fish passage at these projects.
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Another $7 million is proposed for major rehabilitation work at The Dalles Dam, which ultimately includes rewinding nine generators, replacing blades on two turbines, refurbishing the blades on the other units and upgrading other power plant features. Depending on subsequent fiscal year funding, completion of the projects is scheduled for September 2009.
In FY 01, the Corps has requested $500,000 to maintain Elk Creek Dam in its incomplete state. Construction on the dam was halted in 1988 because of an injunction. The Corps notified Congress in 1995 that it would evaluate more cost effective and biologically sound methods to manage the project in its incomplete state. While the Corps believes removing a section of the dam is the most economic and scientifically effective means of providing fish passage with the dam in its incomplete state, it has not been able to secure adequate funds to implement these modifications. Under the requirements of the Endangered Species Act, the Corps is consulting with the National Marine Fisheries Service concerning fish passage with the project in its incomplete state. The Corps will report back to Congress following completion of consultation and provide its recommendation for long-term fish passage. Pending the results of this consultation, FY 01 funds will be used to operate the existing temporary fish collection and transport facility, continue project security and maintenance, and water quality monitoring.
The Corps’ Lower Columbia River Basin Bank Protection Program will receive a proposed $200,000. This program provides for study and construction of 224,000 linear feet of bank protection works at 96 locations along the Columbia River and its principal tributaries between Troutdale, Ore., and the Pacific Ocean. Individual projects are built to protect structures and developed industrial lands from erosion and are accomplished at the request of non-federal sponsors.
The Willamette River Temperature Control project on Cougar Lake, Ore., in the Willamette Valley is funded for $8.2 million. The Corps will use the money to complete installation of gates, construct a diversion tunnel and to design construction of an intake tower that will allow the Corps to use control ports to draw water from specific reservoir elevations and blend the water to achieve desired river temperatures downstream. By replicating pre-project temperatures, the Corps can improve conditions for Spring Chinook salmon and resident fish in the McKenzie River.
Surveys
The Corps’ Portland District will spend a proposed $798,000 on surveys associated with four different projects. The Corps’ Tillamook Bay and Estuary Ecosystem Restoration Study will promote ecosystem restoration and flood damage reduction. Funded at a proposed $274,000 in FY 01, the Corps will evaluate modifications to existing flood plain features, stream channels and the estuary to restore natural wetlands, estuarine and coastal habitats and reduce flooding. Tillamook Bay is about 50 miles south of the mouth of the Columbia River.
Survey work as part of the Willamette Basin Review project feasibility study is funded at $210,000 for FY 01. Through this study, the Corps will analyze the feasibility and impacts of modifying operation and storage plans for its 13 Willamette Valley reservoirs to better serve current and future water resource needs. The Willamette Valley is heavily populated and one of the fastest-growing regions in the state. This study was initiated in response to increasing demands placed on Corps reservoirs for municipal and industrial water supply, irrigation and recreation.
The Corps will receive a proposed $200,000 to continue the Willamette River Floodplain Restoration Study. Through this study, the Corps will evaluate opportunities to modify existing floodplain features that may further reduce flood damages by increasing natural flood management capability. Corps reservoirs in the Willamette Basin control only 27 percent of the Willamette Basin drainage. A restored floodplain could help absorb excess flood waters, slow the velocity of the water, and create habitat for a variety of plants and animals, including fish species. The District completed the reconnaissance phase of the study in September 1999.
The last project involving surveys is for Willamette River environmental dredging which will identify and address non-site specific contaminant sources and cleanup of sediment contamination where necessary. The Corps would receive a proposed $114,000 for the work.
Project modifications for improvement of the environment (section 1135)
The Amazon Creek Restoration Project near Eugene, Ore., is slated to receive a proposed $200,000 to continue work that began in July 1999.
Billed as one of the largest wetland restoration projects of its kind in the nation, the Amazon Creek project will reconnect about 398 acres of adjacent wetlands to Amazon Creek. The work will restore wet prairie habitat and provide a critical ecological and hydrological corridor between extensive wetland restoration areas in West Eugene and wildlife habitat areas managed by the Corps and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife at Fern Ridge Lake; by The Nature Conservancy at Willow Creek Preserve, and by the City of Eugene and the BLM at Bertelson Slough and other locations throughout West Eugene.
Another way the Corps enhances the environment is through its regulatory program. Built on the auspices of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and the Clean Water Act, the Corps regulates construction and other work in navigable waterways and has authority over the discharge of dredged or fill material in wetlands and all other aquatic areas. Under these two laws, anyone who wants to perform work in aquatic areas must first receive a permit from the Corps. Portland District will received a proposed at $2.4 million in FY 01 to help carry out its regulatory mission.
The proposed budget also funds studies of identified water resource problems and possible solutions that will benefit the region. In conducting the studies, the Corps will compare alternative solutions, determine the costs and benefits of alternative plans and recommend specific courses of action to Congress. Congress may then authorize funds for construction of a recommended project.
This is just a small sample of the work the Corps’ Portland District is looking forward to in FY 01. The Corps is committed to serving its customers, the people of Oregon and Washington, through the Corpswide Civil Works program. Corps projects in the Columbia, Willamette and Rogue river basins are operated to serve multiple purposes: flood damage reduction, irrigation, fish and wildlife, navigation, hydropower, water supply, water quality, recreation and environmental management and restoration. The Corps’ goal is to perform its missions to support an effective balance of these competing needs to serve the region and its people.