By Michael Kuser

FERC on Thursday granted PacifiCorp a stay on the commission’s March 15 order regarding an application to partially transfer the company’s license for its Klamath Hydroelectric Project to the Klamath River Renewal Corp. (Project Nos. 2082-065, 14803-002).

The 169-MW Klamath project (No. 2082) is located in Oregon and California and includes federal lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The project consists of eight developments, seven with hydroelectric generation.

In September 2016, PacifiCorp and the Renewal Corp. proposed that the existing license for the project be amended to remove four developments and place them into a new license for the Lower Klamath Project (No. 14803), to be held by the Renewal Corp.

The application was made in accordance with the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, signed in 2010 and resigned in 2016 by all concerned parties, including the Yurok and Karuk Tribes, to resolve disputes over PacifiCorp’s efforts to relicense Klamath.

The Renewal Corp. also filed an application to surrender the Lower Klamath Project license and physically remove those four developments from the river, contingent on the commission’s approval of the amendment and transfer application.

‘Duplicative and Wasteful Work’

In its March 15 order, the commission found that “transferring a project to a newly formed entity for the sole purpose of decommissioning and dam removal raises unique public interest concerns, specifically whether the transferee — the Renewal Corp. — will have the legal, technical and financial capacity to safely remove project facilities and adequately protect project lands.”

The commission thus “authorized only the administrative amendment of the license for the Klamath project, effective as of the day the order was issued, such that PacifiCorp would remain the licensee for both the Klamath project and the Lower Klamath Project until we receive certain additional information.”

In its motion for a stay, PacifiCorp stated that compliance measures associated with dividing the Klamath project into two separate licenses could exceed $3.1 million.

PacifiCorp argued that requiring it to complete the license amendment compliance “would result in duplicative and wasteful work” in the event the license transfer is subsequently approved and the Renewal Corp. is required to undertake the same tasks. Alternatively, PacifiCorp stated that the measures would serve no purpose and may later need to be reversed in the event the transfer is not approved.

FERC stayed the order pending its ultimate ruling on the license transfer. “PacifiCorp’s arguments demonstrate that justice requires a stay,” the commission’s June 21 order said.

The commission also dismissed PacifiCorp’s alternative request for rehearing as moot.