Merced Irrigation District scored a victory this week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that may dictate how much water flows into the Merced River and how much is diverted to Merced's farmers.
MID spent months of consultations with federal agencies and environmental groups discussing whether the relicensing of the district's hydroelectric project should include a study of the dams' environmental impacts all the way to the Delta.
FERC, which licenses MID's hydroelectric dams, declared the district's license renewal need not include a study of the project's downstream effects.
On the surface, the ruling may seem to be just one more twist in the tangle of regulatory red tape governing the Merced River. But it gives MID more control over how it will run its hydroelectric operations -- a critical planning element for county farmers and ranchers.
The district's current license with FERC, which governs how the district runs its hydroelectric dams on the Merced River, runs out in 2012.
In FERC's Sept. 14 determination, the agency didn't call for an extended geographic study of the project's impacts beyond the Crocker-Huffman Dam, which is the farthest downstream dam owned by MID.
FERC's determination said that dam isn't licensed by FERC and so isn't within its jurisdiction. FERC added that any impacts downstream of Crocker-Huffman aren't the result of MID's FERC-licensed dams.
"Any studies that attempt to correlate project effects to downstream effects below Crocker-Huffman are prone to substantial error -- unacceptable for forming reliable inferences on 'roject effects," FERC's decision read.
The findings of any studies chosen will partly govern how the dam is operated in the future.
"By and large they agree with MID's position that the study should be limited to the impacts of the hydro project," said MID's legal counsel, Ken Robbins.
Robbins said FERC's opinion means the feds, like MID, think the issues of water quality and fisheries downstream of the Crocker-Huffman are state issues that shouldn't be addressed in the federal licensing of MID's dams.
However, environmental groups and other federal agencies say the FERC ruling doesn't meet federal regulations and is just a stalling tactic.
They have 15 days to appeal the decision.
Despite FERC's decision, the project's impacts on endangered fish and water quality downstream on the Merced River must be included in the license, under the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts, according to filings by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB).
That means before any license is issued, the NMFS must issue a biological opinion about the river's fish species. The SWRCB has to give the project a clean bill of health when it comes to the Clean Water Act, said Ron Stork, a senior policy advocate for Friends of the River, one of the groups that opposes FERC's decision.
Currently, according to filings, SWRCB and NFMS say the limited scope of study for the project's impacts isn't a realistic approach to understanding the environmental effects of the dams.
Despite their filings, Robbins said neither agency will hold up the license because of these issues. But, he added, "If NMFS doesn't issue a biological opinion, then FERC can proceed without it."
Stork, who said the studies are the key issue in the licensing process, had another take on the issue. "I imagine what MID is trying to do is stall and persuade the agencies to go back on what they have said," said Stork. "This will not engender good will or good relations."
But for now, one federal agency's decision holds sway over MID's impact on the Merced River and use of its water.
Reporter Jonah Owen Lamb can be reached at (209) 385-2484 or jlamb@mercedsun-star.com.
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