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Home My WebLink AboutDWRSTATE OF CALIFORNIA-CALIFORNIA NATURAL RESOURCES AGENCY EDMUNl1 G. BROWN 3R., Governor DEPARTMENT O~ WATER RESOURCES 1416 NINTH STREET, P.O. BOX 942836 ~'-~: SACRAMENTO, CA 94236-x001 (916Eb53-5791 13Q~ ~ .~~ t~aR i 5 Zai~ March 11, 209 3 OROIlII.I.~, CALIFORN~I Mr. Rodney R. McInnis Southwest Regional Administrator National Marine Fisheries Service 501 West Ocean Boulevard, Suite 4200 Long Beach, California 90$02-4213 Dear Mr. McInnis: Thank you for the recent voice message responding to my telephone inquiry regarding the status of the biological opinion for the federal relicensing of the Oroville Facilities, FERC Project No. 2900. I appreciate the update and, more importantly, your refreshed commitment to keep the Department of Water Resources (DWR) informed of the status of the opinion and your intent to provide DWR an opportunity to review and discuss the opinion before it becomes final. My urgency in this matter is best explained by reviewing the background of the biological opinion development. At our meeting last April with you and Mr. Samuel Rauch, Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries in Washington, DC, shared DWR's concern with the prolonged delay in receiving the biological opinion. As you recall, NMFS and DWR were among the 52 local, regional, state, tribal, and federal interests that negotiated and signed the Settlement Agreement for Licensing of the Oroville Facilities. This forward-looking agreement proposed new license conditions comprehensively addressing the needs and concerns of millions of Californians and myriad federal authorities for the next fifty years. Upon issuance of a new federal hydropower license that is consistent with the Settlement Agreement, DWR agreed to commit funding that will provide benefits to the human and natural environments in the following resource areas: Land Use and Land Management $7 million • Recreation $438 million • Additional Recreation Enhancements $62 million • Cultural Resources $77 million • Environment (aquatic and terrestrial} $454 million -, -.. ~,- .., t. .... Mr. Rodney R. McInnis March 11, 2013 Page 2 The proposed license conditions and their associated benefits were based on the results of extensive technical and scientific studies agreed to by the stakeholders, including NMFS staff, who participated in the multi-year collaborative relicensing process. The general consensus was that the collaborative process and the Settlement Agreement appropriately balanced all interests and resources related to the anticipated impacts of a new hydropower license. Unfortunately, implementing this $1 billion agreement in a new hydropower license has been delayed by the lack of a timely biological opinion from NMFS. In an April 19, 2012 letter to you, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) staff noted that a final opinion had been due no Eater than December 13, 2007 and the missing final opinion was "the only remaining regulatory matter before the Commission can act on the Oroville license application." FERC requested your final opinion "as soon as possible" and referred to DWR's concern that the late issuance of the opinion was delaying millions of dollars worth of improvements and enhancements to the natural resources of the area and the economic health of the local community. While we were initially encouraged by the efforts and discussions Mr. Howard Brown provided in developing a draft opinion filed on July 7, 2009, little progress has occurred since then. We have heard informally that the opinion was delayed at various times over the years due to higher priority work, key NMFS staff leave, and completion of the Habitat Expansion Plan under the Habitat Expansion Agreement. More recently, we have heard that the opinion is now being affected by NMFS work on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. Significantly, we have also heard that new conditions have been added to the 2009 draft opinion. As you can understand, these developments have caused great concern for DWR, especially when formal correspondence to the NMFS Central Valley Office has gone unanswered. In closing, I look forward to hearing from you on the status and schedule for DWR review of the current draft opinion and I appreciate any additional attention you can provide to help bring about a timely opinion that is consistent with the Settlement Agreement. Please feel free to contact me at (916) 263-0261 if you would like to discuss this matter further. Sincerely, Original signed by Ted Craddock, Chief Hydropower License Planning and Compiiance Office Executive Division cc: (See attached list.) cc: Ms. Maria Rea, Supervisor Central Valley Office National Marine Fisheries Service 650 Capital Mall, Suite 5-100 Sacramento, California 95814-4708 Mr. Howard Brown Central Valley Office National Marine Fisheries Service 650 Capital Mall, Suite 5-100 Sacramento, California 95814-4708 Ms. Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 888 First Street, Northeast Washington, DC 20426 Mr. Timothy Welch, Chief West Branch Division of Hydropower Licensing Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 888 First Street, Northeast Washington, DC 20426 FERC Project No. 2100 Service List (See attached list.) 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