FYSA: Snow River dam project

Probably not the forum to discuss such things, but this really chaps my ass...saw this on the Alaskans for Fair Salmon Harvest Facebook page:

Heads up from AlaskaOutdoorDigest:

Chugach Electric has gotten approval from FERC today to move forward with licensing of a massive dam on the Snow River, a tributary of the Kenai....putting the Kenai's world class trout and salmon fishery at risk. A grass roots of anglers is working to stop the project at NoKenaiDam.org. Learn more at alaskaoutdoordigest and nokenaidam.org.

I am all for renewable  and cheaper energy but this is very concerning.  I need to learn more about it before I comment too much.  Thanks for posting!

I am all for renewable  and cheaper energy but this is very concerning.  I need to learn more about it before I comment too much.  Thanks for posting!

Yeah, I didn't look into it too much either, just wanted to get the word out.  Too excited about the tourney to focus on other things this week. ;-)

My 2 cents,
I've started reading quite a bit about sustainable living/communities and realized that even "Green Energy" comes at a cost. In the lower 48 damns have destroyed river habitats that took millions of years to evolve, collected toxic "Heavy Metal" sediments and silt, they discharge water counter to historic seasonal times, and take decades to pay for themselves. At the end of it all, the cost to remove them and remediate the stream, when added to the total cost/benefit analysis, often makes hydroelectric "renewable energy" less cost effective than advertised.  Many States now consider damns outdated form of renewable energy and are removing them. Is Alaska really willing to risk the health of their most famous Salmon River for discounted energy? How much will Kenai residents save compared to what they stand to lose if the damn creates Salmon recruitment issues and tourism falls off?   

Every form of energy, renewable or not, comes at a cost to our environment.  Deciding what we are willing to destroy in return for that energy is the question.


 

Kenai residents wouldn't save anything I couldn't imagine. I don't know much about it but we have HEA down here. This project is with Chugach electric association. No one from kenai,  soldotna or cooper landing area wants it to happen. Seward on the other hand is all about it..

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Without having done any research I would say the dam would have little effect on Kenai River fisheries and could actually have a beneficial lining...perhaps. Snow River is not a direct tributary to the Kenai River. It drains into Kenai Lake which acts as a buffer for the 3 to 4 year cycle of the Snow Glacier damned lake dump before that water enters the Kenai.

With the massive fluctuation of Snow Glacier lake levels I doubt there is any fish inhabiting that body of water and most likely nothing living or spawning in Snow River due to these massive periodic discharges which turn over the river bottom and would wash out any eggs in the gravel.

On the plus side, if the dam is able to absorb the glacial lake draining it would mean the Kenai River would only see the Skilak Glacier lake dam flush out into the drainage from that point on. Perhaps the river flood stage levels when the lakes dump is a good thing built into mother nature's plan. Then again maybe it is a negative variable that the ecosystem just puts up with. From a standpoint of water temperature, a large Snow River lake would provide a very stable water temperature into Kenai Lake which might benefit sockeye eggs and/or fry, etc.

Just some thoughts.