California Hydropower and Climate Change

All hydropower dams owned by utilities must get new licenses to operate from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) every 30 to 50 years.  American Rivers and our partners take advantage of this "relicensing" process to change the way the dams operate and minimize negative affects on our rivers.  It should also be an opportunity to force the hydropower dam owners to consider how climate change will affect their dams, and how global warming will change the affects dams have on our rivers.  However, FERC and hydropower owners such as Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Nevada Irrigation District (NID) have refused to consider climate change information in the relicensing process, despite the fact that the new licenses could last until 2063.  Scientists predict that the Sierra snowpack could decrease by 25% or more by then. 

We are working with partners in the California Hydropower Reform Coalition and national Hydropower Reform Network to persuade PG&E and NID to include climate change information in the their ongoing relicensings in the Yuba River and Bear River watersheds.  PG&E’s own measurements in the Yuba basin clearly show that the snowpack has already decreased more than 25%.  Scientists agree this trend will continue for decades, yet PG&E and NID have refused to take such changes into account.

American Rivers is also trying to push FERC to change its policy of refusing to consider climate change information when making 30-50 year hydropower license decisions.  We hosted a workshop with the National Hydropower Association that brought together top climate scientists, FERC officials, hydropower industry representatives, conservation groups and federal agencies to discuss how to include climate science in the relicensing process. With the overwhelming consensus that climate change will dramatically affect hydropower operations over the next 50 years, and the clear legal requirements to consider climate change, we are confident FERC will ultimately bring its decision-making into the 21st Century.