News Release
| Release Number: | 01-159 |
| Dated: | 12/10/2001 |
| Contact: | Heidi Y. Helwig, 503-808-4510 |
The Fiscal Year 2002 (FY 02) Energy and Water Development Appropriation Act, signed Nov. 12, 2001, by President George W. Bush, includes $4.5 billion for Corps' civil works projects to help maintain and manage navigable waterways, effectively operate flood damage reduction and multiple-purpose projects, and restore and regulate wetlands and other important environmental resources across the nation. Of the total funding, the Corps' Portland District will receive $141 million to fund work in the Rogue, Willamette, Columbia and Cowlitz river basins.
Fisheries
To increase the survival of migrating salmon and steelhead trout, Congress has authorized the design, testing and construction of new or improved fish bypass facilities. One of the Corps' biggest construction programs is the Columbia River Fish Mitigation Project, encompassing three dams in Portland District and five other locations in Walla Walla District. In FY 02, funding for the Columbia River Fish Mitigation Project is $81 million. Portland District will receive about half of this amount to fund improvements in fish passage facilities at John Day, The Dalles and Bonneville dams, and to conduct systemwide evaluations.
Systemwide work includes studies of turbine passage and gas abatement, and adult passage improvements. Among other projects at Bonneville Lock and Dam, $5.9 million will fund installation of adult passage detection technology, doing gas abatement measures at the spillway, continuing development of surface bypass at the second powerhouse, and continuing evaluation of adult fallback issues.
At John Day, $4.4 million will allow continued development of extended screens and surface bypass systems, as well as other fisheries improvements. At The Dalles Dam, $3.3 million will fund testing of a surface bypass system at the powerhouse and continued juvenile survival evaluations. The three projects also will receive funds to meet new requirements for implementing the Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion--The Dalles will receive $300,000; Bonneville, $450,000, and John Day, $300,000.
The Corps has received $2 million to begin construction of a fish passage corridor at Elk Creek Dam on the Rogue River. Dam construction was halted in 1988 as a result of a legal challenge, and in 1995 the Corps began to evaluate cost effective and biologically sound methods to manage the project. FY 01 funds were used to operate a temporary fish collection and transport facility, provide project security and maintenance, and monitor water quality. After consulting with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), 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.
The Willamette River Temperature Control Project on Cougar Lake in the Willamette Valley is funded at $9 million. The money will be used to complete installation of gates and construction of a diversion tunnel, and to initiate construction of an intake tower that will allow the Corps to draw water from different reservoir elevations and thus control downstream river temperatures. Replicating pre-project water temperatures should improve conditions for spring Chinook salmon and resident fish in the McKenzie River.
The Corps is continuing work on fishing sites for Native American tribes which have treaty fishing rights on the Columbia River. At a proposed cost of $5 million, the Corps will continue design and construction of treaty fishing sites at Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day reservoirs. Twenty-three of the scheduled 31 sites were completed by the end of FY 01; eight more sites will be completed during the next six years.
Hydropower
The Corps has been producing power since 1938 when Bonneville Dam's first powerhouse came online. Today, hydropower projects in Portland District collectively produce an average of 29.6 million megawatt hours of electricity annually for a wholesale value of $494 million. Hydropower production at Corps' projects is directly funded by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which markets the power generated by the Corps. In FY 02, Portland District will receive about $48.3 million from BPA for routine operation and maintenance at these hydropower projects and $20 million for capital improvements to hydropower generating facilities.
During FY 02, work will continue on the second phase of the Bonneville Major Rehabilitation Project, which involves replacing the windings of six generators and replacing ten turbines. Portland District will receive $10 million for this work. Depending on future funding, the plan is to complete the second phase of the project by 2008. Upon completion, generation capability will increase enough to provide electricity for 16,000 more homes in an average year.
Another $7 million was appropriated for major rehabilitation work at The Dalles Dam during FY 02, including rewinding nine generators, replacing blades on two turbines, refurbishing the blades on the other units, and upgrading other power plant features. Completion of this work, scheduled for 2010, is dependent on future funding.
Environmental Restoration and Protection
The Amazon Creek Restoration Project will receive $200,000 to continue work that began in 1999. One of the largest wetland restoration projects of its kind in the nation, this project will reconnect about 398 acres of adjacent wetlands to Amazon Creek in Eugene, Ore. Efforts target restoration of wet prairie habitat, providing a critical ecological and hydrological corridor between extensive wetland restoration areas in West Eugene and wildlife habitat areas in Fern Ridge Lake (managed by the Corps and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife), Willow Creek Preserve (managed by The Nature Conservancy), Bertelson Slough (managed by the city of Eugene and the Bureau of Land Management), and other locations throughout West Eugene.
The Civil Works budget also funds studies of identified water resource problems and possible solutions that will benefit the region (see "Studies" below). 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, which may then authorize and appropriate funds for construction of a recommended project.
Under 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 other aquatic areas. Portland District will receive $2.45 million in FY 02 to help carry out its regulatory mission.
Studies
Portland District will spend $1.3 million on continuing studies at five different projects. The Corps' Tillamook Bay and Estuary Ecosystem Restoration Study is intended to promote ecosystem restoration and flood damage reduction at Tillamook Bay and in the five rivers that feed the estuary. At a budgeted cost of $500,000 in FY 02, the Corps will continue a feasibility study which evaluates modifications to existing flood plain features, stream channels, and at the estuary to restore natural wetlands, estuarine and coastal habitats, and reduce flooding to provide long-term solutions through ecosystem restoration.
$135,000 will be used to continue the reconnaissance phase study for the Lower Columbia River Ecosystem Restoration Project. This is a comprehensive study of wetland and riparian habitat restoration and stream and fisheries habitat improvement.
The Willamette Basin Review Project feasibility study is funded at $130,000. The original scope of this study called for the Corps to 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 in this heavily populated region. The study was initiated in response to increasing demands placed on Corps reservoirs for municipal and industrial water, irrigation and recreation. The provisions of a forthcoming Willamette River biological opinion will likely impact the scope of this study.
The Corps will receive $170,000 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 new habitat for a variety of plants and animals--including endangered fish species. The reconnaissance report was completed in 1999.
The Willamette River environmental dredging study, focusing on the lower Willamette River, is funded at $369,000. It will identify and address non-site-specific containment sources and cleanup of sediment contamination where necessary. In addition to the five continuing studies, the Corps has received $100,000 to initiate a study of water resource issues in the Amazon Creek Basin in the Eugene/Springfield metropolitan area.
Operation and Maintenance
The Corps operates 19 multiple-purpose projects within Portland District, as well as the sediment retention structure built after the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, the Willow Creek project near Heppner, Ore., and Willamette Falls Locks at West Linn, Ore. In FY 02, $63 million has been appropriated for operation and maintenance (O&M) activities at these locations.
One of the Corps' O&M missions is maintaining waterways for commercial use in the Columbia and Willamette rivers and along the Oregon and Washington coastlines. $36 million is budgeted to fund hydrographic surveys and dredging, including monitoring and maintaining navigation structures such as jetties and dikes, and other activities. Some of this money will fund a major rehabilitation study of the north jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River. $200,000 will be used to study the impacts of alternate dredged material disposal methods with focus on the impacts at Benson Beach. $3 million will fund removal and reinstallation of the docks and causeway at Astoria East Boat Basin and continued repairs to the project's breakwater.
Navigation projects are funded on the Chetco, Columbia, Coquille, Umpqua and Siuslaw rivers; in the Rogue River Basin at Gold Beach; in the Skipanon Channel at Warrenton; and in Coos Bay, Depoe Bay, Tillimook Bay, Yaquina Bay, and Port Orford. $200,000 will be used to fund a major maintenance report for the north and south jetties at Tillamook Bay and Harbor. $100,000 will fund dredging of the Newport South Beach Marina and Harbor to its federally authorized depth.
About $5.7 million will fund the operation, inspection and maintenance of flood damage reduction structures (such as dikes and levees) and the Corps' reservoir projects in the Rogue and Willamette river basins. The initial investment in flood damage reduction projects throughout the District, including reservoir and bank protection projects, was $1.2 billion. Flood damages prevented since those projects were constructed is estimated at more than $24.1 billion.
The day-to-day operation and maintenance of the Corps' multiple-purpose projects, including navigation locks and recreational facilities, is funded at about $20 million in FY 02.
Enhanced security measures which were implemented at multiple-purpose projects following the events of Sept. 11 and the cost of assessing the need for additional, permanent security measures have resulted in deferral of some budgeted activities in FY 02 and will likely impact future years' O&M budgets.
This is just a small sample of the work the Corps' Portland District is looking forward to in FY 02. The Corps is committed to serving its customers, the people of Oregon and Washington, through the Corpswide Civil Works program.