Shoshone-Bannock Tribes - Idaho Power

Idaho Power CompanyResponses to CommentsRESPONSE TO COMMENT SBT1-24There are no HCC transmission-line rights-of-way licensed by the FERC on the Fort Hall IndianReservation.RESPONSE TO COMMENT SBT1-25There are no HCC transmission-line rights-of-way licensed by the FERC on the Fort Hall IndianReservation.RESPONSE TO COMMENT SBT1-26This is an overview section. The license application, Exhibit E.4. and the associated reportsinclude a full discussion of Native American historical use.RESPONSE TO COMMENT SBT1-27IPC considered all resource values in the relicensing process. This section describes how theproject is currently operated and is not an evaluation of impacts or resource values.RESPONSE TO COMMENT SBT1-28The text referenced in this comment has been modified in the FLA to provide clarity.RESPONSE TO COMMENT SBT1-29IPC disagrees that the minimum flow of 100 cfs through the Oxbow bypass should be increasedto 1,350 cfs because increasing the flow would not result in substantive improvements to eitherwater quality or habitat. Oxygen conditions throughout much of the bypass reach are determinedby oxygen levels in water being released from Brownlee Reservoir. Likewise, while BrownleeReservoir is generally improving downstream water temperatures for coldwater biota,temperature conditions in the bypass reach do not always meet standards. However, the mainfactor controlling temperatures in the bypass are temperatures of water being released upstream.Increasing the minimum flow would provide little or no improvement to water quality conditionsin the bypass but simply result in an additional amount of degraded water passing through thebypassed reach.RESPONSE TO COMMENT SBT1-30This comment is not correct. IPC stated that water temperatures become warmer as water flowsdownstream below Hell Canyon Dam, not that water temperatures increase throughHells Canyon Dam. It is incorrect and misleading to state that Hells Canyon Dam alters thenatural thermal regime. It is correct that the outflow thermal regime from Hells Canyon Dam isslightly shifted from the thermal regime of the inflow to Brownlee Reservoir. However, giventhe extensive anthropogenic development throughout the Snake River basin, it is misleading toimply that the thermal inflow regime represents “natural” conditions. Further, the thermal shiftoccurs as water passes through Brownlee Reservoir, not Hells Canyon Dam.Hells Canyon Complex Page 53