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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-08-05 City Council (18)City of Palo Alto C ty Manager’s Report TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: UTILITIES DATE: TITLE: AUGUST 5, 2002 CMR:360:02 UPDATE ON TRINITY RIVER FLOW ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT LITIGATION This is an informational report and no Council action is required. DISCUSSION The Trinity River flows frolTl its watershed in Trinity County to its confluence with the Klamath River about 60 miles downstream. From there, the Klamath flows about 40 miles to the’Pacific. Since the completion of the Trinity Dam in 1964, a significant fraction of the water flows from the Trinity River were diverted at Lewiston to the Sacramento River to achieve environmental goals, provide for hydropower generation and to serve the municipal and agricultural water needs of California. Trinity River flows are the sum of the controlled watershed releases at Lewiston (under dispute) plus the uncontrolled inflow from a number of down river streams. From the mid 1960’s through the 1980’s, Trinity River diversions to the Sacramento River decreased Trinity River releasesat Lewiston to about 10% of natural flows. Recognizing a need to manage water resources and balance increasingly competing environmental priorities, the Department of Interior (DOI) increased Trinity River releases to about 30% in 1984. Since then, DOI has prepared another Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess proper flow and other measures to restore the health of the Trinity River fishery and to balance competing qualifying interests. The Northern California Power Agency (NCPA) commented extensively in the EIS process requesting consideration of environmental CMR:360:02 Page 1 of 4 impacts of the Trinity River flows on the Sacramento River, and consideration of impacts on electric system reliability. These requests were not metl That EIS resulted in DOI issuing a December 2000 Record of Decision (ROD) requiring Trinity River releases to increase again to average 48% of flows at Trinity Dam. The ROD’s decrease of diversions to the Sacramento t~iver by an additional 254,000 acre-feet per year over the current approved flows would cause a loss of generation of 250 MW for about 1,200 hours per year (294,000 MWh/year) to the Central Valley Project hydroelectric system. NCPA, on behalf of all Of its members, joined litigation with Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and Westlands Water District against the DOI seeking .to set aside the December 2000, ROD and to reopen the EIS to evaluate power impacts and the reduction of flows in the Sacramento River and Bay Delta. NCPA’s reason for joining the litigation brought against the DOI’s ROD on the Trinity River is based on the concern that the DOI ignored environmental issues raised by NCPA and others during the development.of the ROD. The DOI ignored the ROD’s impacts on endangered species in the Sacramento River and Delta. The DOI also failed to assess the impacts of the ROD on power system reliability. NCPA believes that the ROD should be set aside until the EIS is updated to address environmental and power system reliability concerns and that the DOI consider a wider range of restoration alternatives. The case is set for a Hearing of Parties’ Motions for Summary Judgment on August 20, 2002. The City’s hope is that a better alternative will be found for improving the health of both rivers and of the Delta, as well as minimizing both the adverse air quality impacts and power system reliability impacts of losing hydro generation. The SMUD, NCPA members’ staffs, NCPA Commissioners and NCPA member-city elected officials are currently receiving emails and letters as part of an organized campaign urging that member cities forego their rights in court and withdraw from the litigation over the Trinity River. Palo Alto has an outstanding environmental record, reflecting the pro-environmental focus of most of our citizens. Palo Alto is one of the more environmentally responsible utilities in the nation. An example of that is our voluntary submission to a review of our Public Benefits programs by the Natural Resource Defense Council. The City has implemented several conservation programs over the years that have resulted in energy savings. As recently as last year, during the energy crisis, the City Council approved CMR:360:02 Page 2 of 4 accelerated spending on energy efficiency programs that both improved reliability and improved the environment. That same environmental consciousness holds sway at the NCPA. The positions and actions of NCPA are driven by its Commission, which is composed of representatives of each of the cities and other elective bodies that are its members, including Palo Alto. The NCPA commission unanimously supported NCPA’s participation in the Trinity River litigation through enactment of an agency resolution (#00-12) on November 30,, 2000. NCPA and its members recognize the important role we play as stewards of the environment, and recognize our legal duty and public responsibility to protect threatened and endangered species - it is our objective to ensure that a proper scientific review is conducted to gerve as the basis for a restoration plan that can best achierce this goal. Staff recognizes the complexity of accurately and impartially evaluating competing environmental interests as evidenced by widely disparate estimates of power impacts, reliability impacts, and environmental impacts. Due to the inherent complexity, Staff feels that it is appropriate to not withdraw support for the case but to continue into the courts to allow experts to explain the different points of view in detail. RESOURCE IMPACT The ROD results in a 35,000 MWh/year energy loss for Palo Alto costing about $1,500,000 per year to replace with conventional fossil fueled resources. This amounts to approximately 3% of the annual energy consumption and commodity budget. If this volume of lost renewable energy were replaced with renewable sources it would cost between $1,600,000 and $6,000,000 depending on the renewable resource chosen. POLICY IMPLICATIONS This recommendation is consistent with the Council approved Utilities Strategic Plan to (1) Preserve a supply cost advantage compared to the market price and (2) Implement programs that improve the quality of the environment. Strategy (1) is pursued by attempting to maintain current levels of generation at 250 MW of federal power plants for CMR:360:02 Page 3 of 4 which Palo Alto already pays an 11% share of costs. Strategy (2) is purstied by following due process in an attempt to improve the global environmental solution of a complex problem. PREPARED BY: DEPARTMENT HEAD: CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: TOM KABAT ¯ Senior.Resource Originator HARRISON Assistant City Manager CMR:360:02 Page 4 of 4