The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is responsible for the operation of 2 of the 14 Federal hydropower facilities of the FCRPS that are the subject of these consultations. Reclamation's FCRPS facilities are Hungry Horse Dam and Powerplant in Montana and Grand Coulee Dam and Powerplant in Washington. In addition to its two FCRPS projects, Reclamation operates and maintains 29 other projects in the Columbia River Basin, some of which include powerplants and/or provide local flood control benefits but which are not operated or coordinated as part of the FCRPS. All 31 Reclamation projects are authorized to provide water for irrigated agriculture.
Reclamation is one of the three Federal action agencies that will be directly affected by the biological opinions. Reclamation also is participating with eight other Federal agencies in the development of the Basinwide Salmon Recovery Strategy, a conceptual multispecies recovery plan. The scientific underpinnings of the conceptual recovery plan provided the basis of NMFS' draft biological opinion on the operation of the FCRPS and Reclamation's projects. I will limit my remarks to actions Reclamation is called upon to take in the draft biological opinions.
The NMFS draft biological opinion calls upon Reclamation to take certain actions as part of a reasonable and prudent alternative (RPA) to avoid jeopardy to salmon and steelhead. These actions can generally be grouped in three categories: (1) modification of FCRPS reservoir operations, (2) water acquisitions for instream flow augmentation, and (3) off-site mitigation for tributary habitat improvements. The FWS draft biological opinion also calls for certain FCRPS reservoir operation modifications.
Proposed actions in the RPA would require Reclamation to change its reservoir operations, primarily at Hungry Horse and Grand Coulee. Storage from Hungry Horse Reservoir and Lake Roosevelt (which is impounded by Grand Coulee Dam) would be utilized as primary sources of flow augmentation water to improve conditions for migrating salmon and steelhead in the lower reaches of the Columbia River. In particular, Lake Roosevelt, as the largest water storage reservoir in the Columbia River system, is called upon to provide a significant amount of the water for flow augmentation. Storage at Hungry Horse Reservoir would also be utilized to increase minimum flows below the dam to improve instream conditions for bull trout as called for by the FWS draft biological opinion.
The purpose of the proposed operational modifications in the NMFS RPA is to secure seasonal water to help meet flow targets for several listed species of migrating adult and juvenile salmon at downstream locations on the Columbia River. The operational modifications at Hungry Horse and Grand Coulee will change the timing of water storage, reservoir drawdown levels, and the scheduling of water releases as compared to historic reservoir operations. The scheduling changes will require that accommodations be made throughout the system to meet demands for power production and flood control; consequently, system-wide operational modifications are built into the RPA to accommodate these needs.
Although the operational modifications can be accommodated on a system-wide basis, there will be localized impacts. Among the impacts is a deeper drawdown of Lake Roosevelt surface elevations during July and August of low flow years. The RPA also calls for additional drafts at Banks Lake (an off-stream storage reservoir that delivers irrigation water to the Columbia Basin Project). Reclamation has not yet initiated the studies needed to assess the extent of the impacts or to determine appropriate mitigation actions.
The proposed RPA also directs Reclamation to continue flow augmentation in the lower Snake River by providing water from its storage facilities in the upper Snake River basin by annually providing 427,000 acre feet of water from its storage facilities in the upper Snake River basin from willing sellers consistent with state water law. NMFS' 1995 FCRPS Biological Opinion likewise called on Reclamation to provide 427,000 acre-feet of water annually from the upper Snake River. The water was to be obtained in accordance with state water law and from willing sellers. Reclamation has, in fact, provided that water every year since 1993 by working with the State of Idaho to release augmentation flow water from uncontracted storage space, through leases from the State water bank, and through purchased (or buy-back) of contracted storage space.
In addition, the draft NMFS biological opinion proposes that Reclamation will undertake "off-site mitigation" actions by addressing instream habitat issues in 16 of the Columbia Basin's 53 subbasins, many of which do not have an authorized Reclamation project. The RPA action calls for screening diversions, removing or modifying instream barriers to fish migration, and acquiring water for instream flows. While Reclamation has successfully provided fish migration benefits in the Umatilla and Yakima River basins where we have site-specific authority, we need additional authority to construct or fund construction of such facilities at non-Reclamation projects on a broader scale. We look forward to working with the Congress, the Northwest States, Columbia River Basin Indian Tribes, on this and other related programs.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my testimony.