The owner and operator of four hydroelectric power-generating dams along the Bear River — three in Idaho and one in Utah — has decided to delay plans for a fifth dam that would be built in the middle of a popular recreation area in southeast Idaho, but isn’t abandoning the idea of pursuing the project in the coming years.
Last summer, PacifiCorp received permission from federal regulators to study the feasibility of a “pumped-storage project” in the Oneida Narrows of Franklin County. The regional utility company identified a site just downstream from the existing Oneida dam for the project, which would create a new reservoir on the western hillside above the narrows.
Water from the Oneida Narrows reservoir would be pumped about 1,000 feet uphill and stored in the reservoir during times of low electric demand, then released as needed during times of peak demand, especially during the hottest times of the summer season. PacifiCorp estimates the new project would generate up to 200 megawatts of power — enough to supply roughly 150,000 homes — as the water tumbles downhill through generating turbines and back into the main reservoir.
Unlike the existing dams in the area, the new dam would not be built directly in the river channel. However, PacifiCorp estimates the water level in the reservoir could fluctuate as much as six feet over the course of a single day as water is pumped uphill into the new reservoir, which according to documents filed with the Idaho Department of Water Resources could store up to 3,400 acre-feet of water — more than 30% of the existing reservoir’s total capacity.
While providing a reliable source of electricity to accommodate a growing human population, such rapid fluctuations in reservoir levels could also create significant disruptions to the local ecosystem, and would likely have major impacts on access for the people who come to recreate on the reservoir that has existed since the Oneida dam was completed in 1920. The area is one of the few stretches of the Bear River that provide public access, and is ecologically important for many species of fish, birds, mammals and other wildlife, as well as a variety of native plants.
Last September, PacifiCorp formally initiated the federal process of evaluating the pumped-storage project. At the time, the utility was looking to amend its current license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees dams across the nation including the Oneida hydroelectric dam, as well as the Grace and Soda generating facilities located upstream in Caribou County. Under the original timeline, PacifiCorp planned to submit an application for the new project in late 2024 or early 2025.
After receiving considerable public feedback — much of it in opposition to the project — and considering other priorities throughout the six Western states in which it operates, PacifiCorp recently decided to fold the Oneida pumped-storage proposal into the company’s overall license renewal process for the three Idaho dams that comprise the Bear River Project, according to company spokesperson Dave Eskelsen.
That decision essentially means the pumped-storage proposal has been delayed for at least three years, if not longer.
“In evaluating current study needs, processing the public input received and the short timeline for a license amendment, we have decided to not pursue adding the Oneida pumped-storage proposal to the current Bear River Hydroelectric License through the capacity amendment process,” Eskelsen wrote in response to an email inquiry from the Leader. “Instead, we will wait until the relicensing of the Bear River Hydroelectric Project starts in 2027.”
The current license agreement for the Bear River Project is set to expire in 2033, and Eskelsen wrote that the process for a FERC license renewal typically takes about five years to complete.
He also reiterated that the Oneida pumped-storage project, along with similar projects that PacifiCorp is exploring in other states including one near Cutler Reservoir near the border of Box Elder and Cache counties in northern Utah, is still in the early exploratory phases.
“These pumped-hydro storage proposals remain proposals at this point, subject to further study before a decision would be made,” Eskelsen wrote.
‘We’ve won the battle, maybe not the war’
When Jordan Menzel received the news that PacifiCorp was scaling back its timeline for building the new dam, he and other opponents of the project were elated.
“We felt a sigh of tremendous relief,” said Menzel, owner and operator of Maple Grove Hot Springs resort on the shore of the reservoir, 3.5 miles upstream from the existing dam. The decision to delay the pumped storage project “allows us to focus on the long-term side of things.”
Menzel has been a key figure in organizing various stakeholders in opposition to the new dam, including sportsmen, conservationists, members of the Northern Band of the Shoshone tribe, farmers and others who want to preserve the narrows as they exist today.
He and others created a new group called Friends of the Narrows, and started an online petition last December that has since obtained nearly 3,500 signatures.
Menzel has a personal stake in the outcome. When PacifiCorp drew down the level of the reservoir last fall as a test for how the new project would impact water levels, it essentially drained Maple Grove’s source pond, which provides the steaming, mineral-laden waters that are the lifeblood of the hot springs retreat.
However, he said the motivation for opposing the new dam extends well beyond his business interests.
The movement “represents a constituency from Bear Lake all the way to the Great Salt Lake,” Menzel said. “Boaters, fishermen, members of the Shoshone, neighbors, people from the Salt Lake Valley, Franklin County, Cache Valley, all over southern Idaho — well beyond the hot springs, that’s for sure.
“Essentially the public has spoken up that this is not the appropriate project to pursue with the goal in mind,” he said. “In a way, we’ve won the battle — but maybe not the war.”
While PacifiCorp is backing away from its expedited effort to build the new dam, the pumped-storage project is still on its radar. The company maintains active applications on file with the IDWR to secure the water rights needed for the project.
“The change applications are still active,” Eskelsen wrote on April 29. “As we look toward the revised schedule … we’ll review the process with the Idaho Department of Water Resources.”
Anyone wishing to file a formal protest against the approval of these applications must do so with the IDWR by Monday, May 6.
Growth and power needs
In order to provide electric power to a region that has seen some of the most rapid population growth in the United States in recent years, PacifiCorp has been exploring a variety of options to meet the rising demand — a mix of traditional fossil fuels as well as renewable resources including wind, solar, and hydropower.
The company is considering other locations for pumped-storage projects, including another on the Bear River near Utah’s Cutler Dam, located along the border of Box Elder and Cache counties.
Pumped-storage technology is attractive to utilities and energy users because not only is it a renewable resource, but having that energy stored and ready to produce on short notice to meet peaks in demand greatly improves the reliability of the electric grid.
Having a resource that can be tapped instantly like that is becoming increasingly important, Eskelsen said, as utilities are shifting their production away from traditionally reliable fossil-fuel sources to renewables like wind and solar power, which generate plenty of power at certain times but don’t always provide the same around-the-clock reliability.
Weighing potential projects like the Oneida proposal against all other options is what could eventually determine whether the project comes to fruition.
“Is this a good choice for customers? That’s the yardstick by which we are regulated,” Eskelsen said.
The road ahead
Menzel is optimistic that a number of factors will make the Oneida pumped-storage project less attractive to PacifiCorp in the coming years, and will serve to galvanize public opinion against it.
“Federal subsidies won’t be present,” he said, referring to stimulus funding offered for infrastructure projects in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Political administrations change. The Great Salt Lake will be more sensitive. More people will be using and recreating in the narrows. Battery technology will improve.”
Still, with the project looming as a future possibility, he and others aren't resting on their laurels. Menzel said there are plans to incorporate Friends of the Narrows and officially register as a nonprofit organization, allowing the group to broaden its purpose as a steward for the entire narrows area and provide a forum for all interested parties — PacifiCorp, the Bureau of Land Management, Franklin County and others — to come together in preserving the natural environment of the Narrows and maintaining recreational access for generations to come.
“No single stakeholder really assumes responsibility for access and recreation. Safety, garbage, fire prevention, poaching, road maintenance — these problems don’t have multi-stakeholder coordination,” he said. “We want to lead a little more proactively to build those relationships and solve some of these questions that come up.”
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