Water Rights Protest

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RE: APPLICATION FOR PERMIT NO. 13-8201 & PERMIT NO. 88867 IN THE NAME OF PACIFICORP

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• Maple Grove Hot Springs officially files the protest of both Permit No. 13-8201 & Permit No. 88867 on behalf of over 20,000 customers, residents, and guests who reside along the Bear River Valley corridor between Bear Lake and The Great Salt Lake. The proposed permit will reduce the quantity and quality of water under existing water rights. The water supply itself is insufficient for the proposed appropriated use and will conflict with the local public interest.

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• Furthermore, the proposed transfer of 88867 will injure existing water rights and is an enlargement in use of the original right, and is not in the local public interest as defined in Section 42-202(B), Idaho Code. 

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• Should the application be approved, sufficient terms and conditions must be attached to ensure that the permits do not negatively impact the integrity of our commercial and historic hot springs. Please see appendix of info related to water levels on the Oneida Narrows Reservoir and the sensitive impact to our property. 

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• The Bear River upstream of the existing reservoir will be affected by water level fluctuations which would reverse river flow and current - disturbing all upriver wildlife, fish, and shoreline populations. According to the PacifiCorp Initial Consultation Document (ICD) revised October 2023 the mean monthly river flow is 500-1000cfs. The facility will pump 2127 ac-ft of water out of the Reservoir at 2550cfs over 10 hours. This will result in a 5-6 ft drop of the water level over the same 10 hours. During this time the Bear River entering the Reservoir will actually reverse and will flow upstream. Over the next 13 or so hours the project will suck the same amount of water out of the Reservoir. This will cause the Bear River just above the Reservoir to either be very shallow or very narrow with fast current resulting in erosion, sediment deposition and increased turbidity.

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• The existing Oneida Narrows reservoir will experience a rise and drop of 5-6 ft every 10 hours - creating a silt heavy disruption of water quality, water temperature, and shoreline health and accessibility. Fishing, hunting, boating, canoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding, swimming and more will be drastically impeded in most areas due to an unpredictable and volatile shoreline stability. Fluctuating water levels are a danger to recreational use. During the morning License Amendment Joint Meeting on October 25 the Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Project Schoharie Creek in New York was referenced as similar to the Oneida Reservoir. In fact, it was constructed in 1973 as a PSH. It appears to have little recreational use. It has signs warning all boats to stay 600 feet from the power house and lower dam and is only 1300 feet to the bank across from the powerhouse. Wading and bathing is prohibited. Life jackets are required.

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• Water temps for salmonids are already exceeded in the summer. When the water in the Reservoir is lowered and ground is exposed the sunlight will heat it and the heat will be transferred to the water when the level rises. The same is true of the upper reservoir. Also, the pumps/turbines have to generate a lot of heat that will then be transferred to the water.

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• The Bear River downstream of the existing reservoir will be equally affected by water quality, water temperature, construction impacts and more. Importantly, increased water volume storage will reduce water volumes that arrive at the Great Salt Lake.​

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• The project will drastically increase the turbidity of the water in the Oneida Narrows, which feeds the Bear River downstream. Increased sediment can negatively impact agriculture and irrigation processes in a number of ways:

  • Turbid water can deposit significant amounts of sediment into irrigation pipes and canals, which can impact their efficiency, decrease the amount of water flowing through the systems, and create an unnecessary burden on farmers to maintain systems impacted by sediment deposits

  • Sediment can also affect the land's productivity by decreasing soil fertility and choking out crops that get irrigated with water containing high sediment levels. 

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• Appendix Info on water right permit impacts to our Source Pond​

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In September 2023, Pacificorp undertook an exploratory environmental test by lowering the Reservoir to its lowest possible level to better understand the shoreline health, impacts, experience, etc. Due to that test, the integrity of our historic hot springs pond was ruptured by a vacuum suction in an underground cavern resulting in a drain of our hot springs pond on 9/9/23. This interrelated relationship was apparently known by Pacificorp when it occurred in a similar lowering of the reservoir back in approximately 2012. Pacificorp has indicated a knowledge that when the reservoir is lowered, the integrity of the historic hot springs is compromised. Between 2012 and 2023, Pacificorp took no steps to study, understand, or remediate the water level dependent externality. According to the existing license, they have no legal obligation to do so. 

 

We were not notified of the pending environmental test nor did Pacificorp reach out when their operational staff were informed that the pond had drained in response. What ensued was a closure of our operations for 2 days followed by nearly a month of partial operations (9/10-9/28/23) as we worked to stabilize and restore the pond. Due to closure, repairs, and associated costs, our small business incurred a cost of $41,917.31. After multiple appeals to Pacificorp to both understand and assume responsibility for the costs associated with their environmental test, to date, we have been told that Pacificorp bears no responsibility for the known and unknown impacts of the managed reservoir level, including the impacts to our existing commercial facility. As a result, we request that:

 

• Pacificorp conducts a geological study to determine why the low reservoir level ruptures the integrity of our existing hot springs pond. The costs, time, access, and associated impacts to our commercial facility related to that study process must be the sole financial responsibility of Pacificorp. 

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• Pacificorp assumes responsibility for the known impacts of their September 2023 environmental test. While the existing license may not have legally required them to bear responsibility for mitigating and managing the well-known and documented costs, it highlights the dated and insufficient license parameters of the existing regime. They knew of the stakeholder externalities, took no action to mitigate said externalities, and are now fighting responsibility for costs associated with their study period. 

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• Pacificorp develops and implements a mitigation intervention to stabilize and restore the pond to an integral state. Currently, the integrity of the pond and the associated hemorrhage of water in the underground cavern has not been stabilized. To date, Pacificorp has not confirmed a willingness to correct the impact of the previous test nor intervene to ensure it will not happen again. Any future destabilization of our pond along with associated costs are now subject to legal recourse in the absence of action. 

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• Any future water right permits require a complete study and mitigation plan to address known but unaccounted for externalities to our facility and historic geological heritage site. 

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