Oroville >> What’s new with the relicensing of Oroville Dam now that parts of the dam, mainly the main spillway, look a lot different?

More waiting.

Oroville and the Feather River Recreation and Park District expect to receive tens of millions of dollars over the next 30 to 50 years when the hydroelectric facilities receive a renewed license. Hundreds of millions of dollars in funding is also planned for areas around the dam, like wildlife areas, the state park and the Feather River Fish Hatchery. The money comes from water users who receive water from the lake, which is operated by the state Department of Water Resources.

The original license was approved when the dam was completed in the 1960s, and that license expired in 2007. Since then, DWR has operated the project with temporary permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is responsible for licensing hydroelectric projects.

Over the past decades, since even before the license expired, there have been negotiations and delays. In early December, the agencies and local groups involved in the negotiations believed they were near the final step. That’s when a 400-page biological opinion was finalized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

If all had gone as planned, the final license renewal was expected this summer.

Then in February, the spillway began to crumble, people were evacuated and plans are now underway to fix the area where water flows from the dam to the Feather River.

Congressman Doug LaMalfa’s staff person, Laura Page, said she met last month with the acting chair of FERC and asked what happens now.

“She said she really didn’t have an answer,” Page said.

“All of the effort has been directed toward the emergency and recovery center (for Lake Oroville).”

No vote possible

Another major missing piece of the puzzle is that the committee tasked with voting on the FERC relicensing only has two members. Normally there are five commissioners. There needs to be at least three for a vote to take place.

In January, one of the commissioners announced his resignation after President Donald Trump took away his position as chair of the committee. No appointments have been made for replacements. Once those replacements are named, their confirmation is needed by the Senate. See related story at http://tinyurl.com/m4hzoo2

It could take months before new committee members are named and approved, but the process has not even begun.

After so many years to reach this point, Oroville’s mayor said she isn’t interested in delaying the relicensing process any longer.

Mayor Linda Dahlmeier said the impacts from the damaged spillway and the FERC relicensing are separate things. When Trump appoints new members of the FERC committee, the existing agreement for relicensing should move forward, Dahlmeier said.

“I want to see a win-win for everyone,” Dahlmeier said. To her, that means funding for the relicensing should stay separate from repairs of damage because of the spillway crisis.

“Our parks are gone, bike trails are gone, boat ramps are closed,” she said. Roads have been mangled and businesses lost income, she continued. That all needs to be fixed.

When it comes to relicensing, that’s a different “pocket of money,” she said.

“What’s best for my community? The best thing is to try to sit at a table with three to four decision-makers who you can talk honestly with and say, ‘This is a mess-up, but let’s move forward and have the best of everybody’s interests in mind,’” Dahlmeier said.

Ted Craddock of DWR said the process is “in FERC’s hands.” Without a quorum on the FERC committee, it will be months until a final vote on relicensing is possible.

After the damage to the spillway, many community leaders have asked for a federal hearing about what went wrong at the dam. Dave Steindorf, California stewardship director for American Whitewater, said there needs to be a good discussion about “what happened and why,” as well as to factor in the full impacts to the community.

“I still support the settlement (for groups to receive funding and for the relicensing to move forward),” Steindorf said, “but there’s no doubt it’s a different project (after the damage to the spillway), both in physical structure and the impacts that need to be mitigated.”

Butte County did not sign a settlement agreement for the FERC relicensing and has been in legal disputes with FERC for years. The county has argued that the project never adequately compensated the county for related costs of law enforcement, roads and lost property taxes, among other costs. In January, the county’s attorney, Bruce Alpert, said he was watching the relicensing process to decide if renewed legal steps were options.

Supervisor Bill Connelly was not convinced six months ago that the FERC relicensing was nearly complete, and he feels the same way now.

“Every six months since we have been through negotiations (since 2007), they tell us it will be six months,” Connelly said.