Yuba River, CA
Yuba River, CA
FERC Project No. P-2246: The Yuba River Development Project, owned by the Yuba County Water Agency (YCWA), is located in Yuba, Sierra, and Nevada Counties, California. The project’s three developments, generally situated upstream to downstream, are:
The Project has a combined capacity of 361.9 megawatts and generates an average of about 2,566 gigawatt-hours of energy annually. YCWA proposes to maintain all existing facilities with the modifications to the New Bullards Bar Dam auxiliary flood control outlet and the New Colgate Powerhouse tailwater depression system.
The three developments are described below.
Water impounded by the 70-foot-high Our House Diversion Dam on the Middle Yuba River is conveyed to Oregon Creek through the Lohman Ridge Diversion Tunnel. From there, water impounded by the 42.5 ft. high Log Cabin Diversion Dam is conveyed to the 4,790-acre New Bullards Bar Reservoir on the North Yuba River through the Camptonville Diversion Tunnel. Water is conveyed through the 645 foot high New Bullards Bar Dam to the New Colgate Powerhouse on the Yuba River via the 5.2 miles long New Colgate Power Tunnel and Penstock.
The powerhouse contains two vertical-shaft Pelton-type turbines with an installed capacity of 315 MW, operating at a maximum hydraulic capacity of 3,430 cubic feet per second (cfs). Powerhouse flows discharge into the Yuba River.
Water from the New Bullards Bar Reservoir is conveyed to the New Bullards Bar Minimum Flow Powerhouse on the North Yuba River. The powerhouse contains a single Pelton-type turbine with an installed capacity of 150 kilowatts, operating under a rated flow capacity of 5 cfs. Powerhouse flows discharge directly into the North Yuba River, downstream of New Bullards Bar Dam.
Water from Englebright Reservoir is conveyed to the Narrows 2 Powerhouse on the Yuba River. The powerhouse contains a single Francis-type turbine with an installed capacity of 52.5 MW, operating at a maximum hydraulic capacity of 3,400 cfs. Powerhouse flows discharge into the Yuba River downstream of Englebright Dam. During times of full or partial powerhouse shutdowns, water is conveyed to the Yuba River through the Narrows 2 full bypass.
FERC Project P-1403: The Project consists of the 12 MW Narrows 1 powerhouse located next to the P-2246 Narrows 2 Facility and approximately 0.2 miles downstream from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Englebright Dam, which impounds Englebright Reservoir. As of May 2019, The Narrows 1 Project was recently sold to YCWA from Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E). The current license specifies a term of 30 years, expiring on January 31, 2023. By order issued January 26, 2018, the Commission extended the term of the license by three years to January 31, 2026.
Integrated Licensing Process (ILP): YCWA filed their Final License Application on April 30, 2014. FERC filed REA Notice on June 29, 2014. NOAA Fisheries then filed preliminary protection, mitigation and enhancement measures and fishway prescriptions under the Federal Power Act in August 2017. These measures included improvements to flow and physical habitat intended to mitigate the negative impacts of the Projects on NOAA Fisheries trust resources.
FERC subsequently released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Project in May 2018 with a Final Environmental Impact Statement in January 2019. FERC will initiate a consultation with NOAA Fisheries under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act for the P-2246 Project. The consultation will also include the Projects in the Upper Yuba (Yuba Bear P-2266, Drum-Spaulding P-2310, Lower Drum P-14531, Deer Creek P-14530).
Yuba Salmon Partnership Initiative: The Yuba Salmon Partnership Initiative (YSPI) is the product of collaboration between California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA Fisheries, the Yuba County Water Agency, American Rivers, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and Trout Unlimited. This group has worked together to develop a program to reintroduce spring-run Chinook salmon, and perhaps steelhead, to the North Yuba River upstream of New Bullards Bar Dam.
In May 2015, the YSPI released a framework for an agreement: a “Term Sheet” that will guide negotiations toward a binding settlement agreement; forming the basis of salmon reintroduction and restoration programs in the Yuba River watershed. Negotiations towards a binding settlement agreement are ongoing.
Yuba River, CA
The Yuba-Bear Project (P-2266) is owned by the Nevada Irrigation District (NID). The Drum-Spaulding Project (P-2310) is owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). For re-licensing, these projects have been combined because of their complex physical interconnectedness.
In combination, they include 38 reservoirs, three off-stream impoundments, five diversion dams, 16 powerhouses, 270 megawatts of electrical power generation, and more than 350,000 acre-feet of water storage on the Middle Yuba, South Yuba, Bear, and North Fork American Rivers. Together the Yuba-Bear and Drum-Spaulding (YBDS) Projects Divert ~410,000 ac-ft./year on average out of the Yuba basin. Water is delivered to agricultural users in Auburn Ravine and other West Placer Streams, Bear River Watershed, or “abandoned” in Folsom Reservoir in the American River Basin.
Recently, the Drum-Spaulding Project was divided into the Lower Drum Project (P-14531) and the Deer Creek Project (Deer Creek P-14530) and is in the process of being sold from PG&E to NID.
Integrated Licensing Process (ILP): PG&E and NID filed their Final License Application on April 2011. NOAA Fisheries then filed preliminary protection, mitigation and enhancement measures, and fishway prescriptions under the Federal Power Act in July 2012. These measures included improvements to flow and physical habitat intended to mitigate the negative impacts of the Projects on NOAA Fisheries trust resources.
FERC subsequently released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Projects in May 2013 with a Final Environmental Impact Statement in December 2014. FERC will initiate a consultation with NOAA Fisheries under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act that will include the relicensing of the Projects in the Upper Yuba (Yuba Bear P-2266, Drum-Spaulding P-2310, Lower Drum P-14531, Deer Creek P-14530) as well as the Yuba River Development Project (P-2246).
Chinook salmon jump in frothy white water. Credit: Laura Mahoney/USFWS
The Fivemile-Bell habitat restoration project in the Siuslaw watershed in Oregon. Credit: Siuslaw Watershed Council.
Southern Resident killer whales encountered during NOAA's PODs (Pacific Orcinus Distribution Survey) in October 2021 near the west end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Credit: NOAA Fisheries
