DRA Files Federal Lawsuit to Enforce Clean Water Act
On Friday, August 12, 2016, the DRA filed a Clean Water Act citizen suit against Portland General Electric (PGE), to enforce water quality requirements for dam operations at the Pelton-Round Butte Hydroelectric Project. The requirements are found in a water quality certification issued by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality as part of the federal licensing process for the Project.These requirements, for criteria such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH, were designed to ensure the Pelton-Round Butte Project complies with applicable Oregon water quality standards. Ultimately, the requirements and the underlying standards are aimed at preventing degradation of water quality, and at preventing harm to the various beneficial uses of the lower Deschutes River. Unfortunately, since the Project’s selective water withdrawal tower began operations in late 2009, PGE has operated the Project in violation of these requirements. Through June 2016, the DRA has identified over 1,600 daily violations of the Project’s water quality certification.
The fundamental mandates of the Clean Water Act must be upheld. Many of us remember the days prior to the CWA. Rivers were so polluted in the United States that some caught fire. Fifty years ago, for example, the Willamette River was little better than a sewage ditch, and now vast reaches of it are restored. The lower Deschutes River must similarly be afforded every fundamental federal and state legal protection necessary to preserve and restore its beneficial uses and ecological integrity.To date, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has not enforced the Project's key water quality limitations, so the DRA is taking action directly under the Clean Water Act's citizen suit provisions. The lawsuit has been filed in Federal District Court, District of Oregon, Portland Division, and we’ve placed a copy of the filing on our website.
Litigation is clearly an option of last resort. We remain open to discussion with PGE, of course, but this lawsuit, at this time, is a necessary step toward restoring the river we all love.
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