HomeMy WebLinkAbout05.06.26 Board Correspondence - FW_ Delegated Order issued in FERC P-803-129From:Clerk of the Board
To:Clerk of the Board; Connelly, Bill; Cook, Holly; Cook, Robin; Durfee, Peter; Jessee, Meegan; Kimmelshue, Tod; Kitts, Melissa; Krater, Sharleen; Lee, Lewis; Little, Melissa; Pickett, Andy; Ritter, Tami; Stephens,
Brad J.; Sweeney, Kathleen; Teeter, Doug; Zepeda, Elizabeth
Cc:Loeser, Kamie; Cannon, Jamie
Subject:Board Correspondence - FW: Delegated Order issued in FERC P-803-129
Date:Wednesday, May 6, 2026 10:43:52 AM
Please see Board Correspondence -
Lewis Lee
Administrative Technician - Confidential
Butte County Administration
25 County Center Drive, Suite 200 • Oroville, CA 95965
T: 530.552.3326
www.buttecounty.ca.gov | lelee@buttecounty.ca.gov
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Subject: Delegated Order issued in FERC P-803-129
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On 5/6/2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Washington D.C., issued this document:
Docket(s): P-803-129
Lead Applicant: Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Filing Type: Delegated Order
Description: Order Approving Temporary Variance of Minimum Flow Requirements Under Article 39 re Pacific Gas and Electric Company's DeSabla-Centerville Project under P-803.
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195 FERC ¶ 62,085
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION
ORDER APPROVING TEMPORARY VARIANCE OF MINIMUM FLOW
REQUIREMENTS UNDER ARTICLE 39
(Issued May 6, 2026)
1. On February 6, 2026, and supplemented on March 31, 2026, Pacific Gas and
Electric Company (licensee) filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (Commission) for a temporary variance of the minimum flow requirements
under Article 39 of the project license for the DeSabla-Centerville Project No. 803. The
project is located on Butte Creek, West Branch Feather River, and their tributaries in
Butte County, California. The project occupies lands of the United States within Lassen
National Forest administered by the U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) and Bureau of
Land Management.
License Requirement and Background
2. License Article 39 1 requires that the licensee maintain minimum stream flows at
various project locations. In part, and as relevant to the licensee’s variance request, the
licensee is required to maintain year-round instantaneous minimum flows of: (1) 7 cubic
feet per second (cfs) in dry water years, or 15 cfs in normal water years, in the West
Branch Feather River below Hendricks Head Dam; and (2) release 2 cfs from Philbrook
Reservoir into Philbrook Creek during all water year types. Article 39(e) allows the
licensee to modify flows for short periods of time upon agreement between the licensee
and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (California DFW).
Licensee’s Request
3. The licensee requests a temporary variance of the instantaneous minimum flow
requirements in the West Branch Feather River below Hendricks Head Dam and in
Philbrook Creek below Philbrook Reservoir to be averaged over a period of 48 hours.
Specifically, the licensee requests that the instantaneous normal and dry year minimum
flow requirements: (1) in the West Branch Feather River, of 15 or 7 cubic feet per second
(cfs), respectively, be temporarily modified to 7 cfs, as averaged over 48 hours; and (2) in
1 Order Amending Revised Exhibit S (26 FERC ¶ 62,236), issued March 15, 1984.
Project No. 803-129 2
Philbrook Creek, of 2 cfs (in both water year types), be temporarily modified to between
1 and 2 cfs, as averaged over 48 hours. At the time of the application, the water year type
had not yet been designated for the variance time period; however, the licensee’s request
is irrespective of water year type due to storage capacity limitations in Philbrook
Reservoir.2 The licensee proposes to begin the variance on May 4, 2026, and end on
September 30, 2026.3 The licensee states that the temporary variance would maximize
the delivery of flows released from Philbrook Reservoir to Butte Creek by eliminating the
need to release additional buffer flows to ensure the requisite instantaneous minimum
instream flows are always met. The proposed variance would help preserve cold water
storage in Philbrook Reservoir, increase flow to Butte Creek via Hendricks Canal, and
decrease water residence time in DeSabla Forebay, thus providing additional water to
Butte Creek during the hot summer months to minimize high temperature effects to
federally-listed Central Valley (CV) spring-run Chinook salmon. The cold temperatures
are expected to reduce the potential stress and mortality risk faced by holding adults. The
proposed variance would also aid in the preservation of water for release later in the
summer months towards the end of their holding period when cold water is most critical
to their life history.
4. During the proposed variance, the licensee would implement the following
conservation measures: hold weekly meetings with the California DFW, National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) (collectively,
resource agencies); make operational adjustments in consultation with the resource
agencies; monitor and provide weekly flow changes to the resource agencies; and notify
the resource agencies of any event that significantly inhibits or impairs release structures.
Decisions on when and how to implement variance flows, as well as any changes under
the variance, will be done in consultation with the resource agencies.
Agency Consultation
5. The licensee sent its variance request to the resource agencies for review on
December 30, 2025. California DFW, FWS and NMFS concurred with the licensee’s
request on January 27, 28, and February 5, 2026, respectively, and offered to provide
2 Philbrook Reservoir currently has a reservoir restriction in place due to seismic
stability concerns that limits the maximum water surface elevation of 5,552.5 feet
National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) of 1929 to 5,542.7 feet NGVD.
3 In its application, the licensee stated that it would potentially need the variance
for Philbrook Creek to start as early as April 1, 2026, should water storage in Philbrook
Reservoir be less than 2,116 acre-feet by then and the resource agencies concur with an
earlier start date. On April 23, 2026, the licensee emailed Commission staff with an
update, noting that water storage in Philbrook Reservoir was sufficient and that a
variance prior to May 4, 2026, was unnecessary.
Project No. 803-129 3
technical assistance during the weekly meetings during the variance period. In addition
to concurring with the request, the resource agencies stressed the importance of the
variance in providing conducive conditions to CV spring-run Chinook salmon (with
ancillary benefits to California Central Valley (CCV) steelhead).
Public Notice
6. The Commission issued a public notice of the application for the variance on
February 26, 2026, with protests, comments, and motions to intervene due by March 30,
2026. On March 11, 2026, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance filed
comments in support of the variance. On March 20, and 23, 2026, California State Water
Resources Control Board and California DFW filed motions to intervene to the
proceeding, respectively, followed by Department of Interior on March 26, 2026.
Environmental Review
A. National Environmental Policy Act
7. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to
consider the environmental impacts of their actions in the decision-making process and
provide a detailed statement on proposals for major federal actions significantly affecting
the quality of the human environment.
8. To fulfill its NEPA obligations,4 the Commission completed an environmental
assessment (EA), issued on May 6, 2026.5 The EA concluded that approving the
requested variance would not result in any long-term or significant adverse
environmental effects, would allow the licensee to conserve water storage and allocate
cold water resources to benefit CV spring-run Chinook salmon holding in Butte Creek, as
well as providing benefits to CCV steelhead, and recommended that the variance be
approved. Furthermore, the Commission invited agency and public participation in the
decision-making process.
4 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq.; see also 18 C.F.R. pt. 380 (2025) (Commission’s
regulations implementing NEPA).
5 Environmental Assessment for Temporary Flow Variance, DeSabla-Centerville
Hydroelectric Project – FERC Project No. 803-129, California (EAXX-019-20-000-
1773149143), May 2026.
Project No. 803-129 4
B. Endangered Species Act and Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act
9. Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 6 requires federal agencies
to ensure that their actions are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of
federally listed threatened or endangered species or result in the destruction or adverse
modification of the critical habitat of such species. According to the FWS’s Information
for Planning and Consultation (IPaC) page, the following species have the potential to
occur in the action area: the endangered gray wolf; the threatened North American
wolverine; the experimental population of California condor; the proposed threatened
California spotted owl; the proposed threatened northwestern pond turtle; the threatened
California red-legged frog; the threatened foothill yellow-legged frog; the endangered
Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog; and the proposed threatened monarch butterfly.
Further, IPaC identified proposed critical habitat for the foothill yellow-legged frog
within the affected area.
10. On February 26, 2026, Commission staff designated the licensee as its non-federal
representative for the purpose of conducting formal consultation with the FWS pursuant
to section 7(a)(2) of the ESA. The licensee consulted with the FWS regarding potential
effects to the foothill yellow-legged frog and northwestern pond turtle, the only species
that could be affected by the proposed action; however, FWS declined to conference on
northwestern pond turtle, citing staffing limitations and ongoing work with the species.7
In its Biological Assessment (BA) dated March 4, 2026, the licensee concluded that the
proposed action may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect, foothill yellow-legged
frog and its critical habitat.8 Commission staff reviewed the BA and reached the same
conclusion. By letter dated March 25, 2026, the FWS concurred with this determination,
provided that the licensee implements the proposed conservation measures previously
described in this order.
11. The affected area also is located within the range of threatened CV spring-run
Chinook salmon and threatened CCV steelhead and their critical habitat. Commission
staff determined that the proposed action may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect,
6 16 U.S.C. § 1536(a).
7 FWS informed the licensee of its decision not to conference on northwestern
pond turtle by email dated April 9, 2026.
8 Though FWS declined to conference on potential effects to northwestern pond
turtle, Commission staff examined potential effects to the species in its EA. The analyses
on both foothill yellow-legged frog and northwestern pond turtle are contained in Section
6.B of the Commission’s May 6, 2026, EA, Effects of the Proposed Action.
Project No. 803-129 5
CV spring-run Chinook salmon and CCV steelhead and their critical habitats.9 Further,
the project watershed also contains Pacific Coast Salmon essential fish habitat for
Chinook salmon, as designated under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act. Because the requested variance is designed to temporarily improve the
water quality component of EFH, Commission staff concludes that the proposed action
would not adversely affect Pacific Coast Salmon EFH. By letter dated March 23, 2026,
Commission staff requested concurrence from NMFS on these determinations. On
March 30, 2026,10 NMFS provided concurrence with the Commission’s determination.
Conclusion
12. The licensee’s request is very similar to previous variances the Commission
approved, with the most recent approval in 2025.11 Past variances also focused on
conserving water storage and allocating cold water resources to benefit CV spring-run
Chinook salmon in Butte Creek below DeSabla Tailrace and their critical habitat during
the holding period. The reduced water temperatures expected during the variance would
also reduce the potential for, and extent of, stress and disease, and benefit juvenile
steelhead, which may be present over-summering in Butte Creek. The increased flows to
Butte Creek under the variance would increase available aquatic habitat. In this way,
approving the licensee’s 2026 request would simply represent a continuation of previous
Commission approvals for the same purpose.
13. While the variance seeks to improve conditions for salmonids in Butte Creek
downstream of DeSabla Tailrace by allocating water to the Butte Creek basin that would
otherwise go the West Branch Feather River, aquatic species in the West Branch Feather
River basin are not expected to be negatively affected because of the variance. The
proposed flow regime during the variance represents those flows required during a dry
water year under Article 39, and those flows have been adequate for maintaining aquatic
habitat and fish populations over the duration of the license. While some foothill yellow-
legged frog and northwestern pond turtle habitats would receive less water than required
during a normal water year under the variance, it is not likely to adversely affect these
species because it would result in flows similar to that required during a dry water year
type, in which these species have persisted. During the variance period (about 4 months),
tributaries to the West Branch Feather River would continue contributing flows to the
river, thus the reach of the river affected by the proposed action would still be receiving
flow to support all life stages of foothill yellow-legged frog. This is further supported by
9 See footnote 6.
10 Filed with the Commission on April 6, 2026.
11 Order Approving Temporary Variance of Minimum Flow Requirements Under
Article 39 (192 FERC ¶ 62,050), issued July 29, 2025. The order temporarily reduced
flow requirements under Article 39 from the date of issuance until September 30, 2025.
Project No. 803-129 6
the resource agencies’ comments on the variance, which agree that it represents an
overall benefit to the project area.
14. Given the benefits to ESA-listed salmonids, the close approximation of the
variance compared to required minimum flows, and the support of the resource agencies,
the proposed variance should be approved. We should also reserve our authority to
modify the current temporary variance based on any new information received, or as
updated conditions may warrant.
15. In order to minimize repetitive requests for a temporary variance, Commission
staff recommends that the licensee consider filing an application to amend license Article
39 of the project license, pursuant to 18 CFR 4.200. The amendment application should
detail any anticipated environmental effects of the proposed amendment and should
provide documentation of consultation with the relevant federal and state resource
agencies and Tribes, and the licensee’s response to any comments received.
The Director orders:
(A) Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (licensee) request for a temporary
variance of the minimum flow requirements under license Article 39 for the DeSabla-
Centerville Project No. 803, filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(Commission) on February 6, 2026, and supplemented on March 31, 2026, as modified
by ordering paragraph (B), is approved through September 30, 2026.
(B) The Commission reserves its authority to modify this order based on any
new information received and as future conditions may warrant.
(C) This order constitutes final agency action. Any party may file a request for
rehearing of this order within 30 days from the date of its issuance, as provided in section
313(a) of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. § 825l, and the Commission’s regulations at
18 C.F.R. § 385.713 (2025). The filing of a request for rehearing does not operate as a
stay of the effective date of this order, or of any other date specified in this order. The
licensee’s failure to file a request for rehearing shall constitute acceptance of this order.
Andrea Claros
Chief, Aquatic Resources Branch
Division of Hydropower Administration
and Compliance