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Regulators in South Carolina threw a monkey wrench Thursday into Duke Energy's years-long effort to renew its hydroelectric license on the Catawba River.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control board denied Duke a water-quality certification the utility needs before the federal license can be renewed. The document would certify that Duke's hydro operations won't hurt the Catawba, including its wildlife.
The board overturned a staff recommendation that the certificate be granted. Two environmental groups, the S.C. Coastal Conservation League and American Rivers, had challenged the recommendation.
They said it would have allowed Duke to release too little water from its five S.C. dams for aquatic creatures, including the endangered shortnose sturgeon.
Duke has agreed to increase the minimum amount of water released from its dams, benefitting wildlife. But the environmental groups say it won't send higher amounts of water downstream during the January-to-May spawning seasons, when fish need it most.
“The goal is to restore fish back up the river,” said Gerrit Jobsis, a Columbia-based official of American Rivers. “Even without (upstream-migrating) fish, resident fish depend on seasonally high flows.”
Duke disagrees, saying the larger spring releases would have no proven ecological benefit and could hurt its ability to fight droughts that have parched the basin in recent years.
The environmental groups say they wouldn't want Duke to release water during dry spells to conserve water held in reservoirs. But Duke says it needs to hold water back in case of drought.
“In any given year, you don't know what the summer season will bring,” said licensing manager Mark Oakley. “It's very clear that any water you release prior to a drought, which we cannot predict, is water you do not have to get you through the drought.”
Duke and the groups also disagree over the endangered sturgeon. Jobsis says the native fish has been found downstream of the Lake Wateree dam, the last in Duke's system. Duke says there's no evidence the fish uses the river.
S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster, who has sued North Carolina before the U.S. Supreme Court over access to the Catawba's water, applauded Thursday's decision.
Duke has 60 days in which to appeal to a state administrative law court or take other steps it did not specify. The utility could refile its request for the permit.
North Carolina approved water-quality certification for Duke's six N.C. dams last November.
Duke has worked to renew its license for the 225-mile Catawba, first granted in 1958, since 2003. License renewal would allow Duke to continue managing the river and 11 Catawba reservoirs for up to 50 more years.
As part of proposed license terms, Duke committed nearly $10 million in recreational amenities and expanded conservation, and to help protect thousands more acres of land in the Catawba basin.
A license decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is expected in the first quarter of 2010.
