Make your voice heard

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Office of the Secretary
888 First Street NE
Washington, D.C. 20426

Re: Draft License Application, Nuyakuk River Hydroelectric Project, P-14873

Dear Secretary and Commission Staff:

CC: Nushagak Cooperative Board of Directors 

I am writing to share concerns about the Draft License Application submitted by Nushagak Cooperative for the proposed Nuyakuk River Hydroelectric Project. The Nuyakuk and Nushagak watersheds contribute to the Bristol Bay salmon fishery and support salmon and subsistence resources that our communities have depended on for generations and continue to today. The Bristol Bay salmon fishery generates an estimated $2.2 billion in economic value and interstate commerce. I urge FERC and the Cooperative to do more to protect these resources, and to meaningfully engage affected Tribes and communities, before the project moves forward.

Protecting fish. The application estimates that up to half of the out-migrating salmon smolts in the Nuyakuk River could interact with the project, yet it proposes no fish screens. It does not commit to a turbine type, and the small, high-speed turbines likely to be used are far more harmful to fish than the extremely large and slow-moving turbines which were cited in the application. It also overlooks predation on juvenile salmon as they exit the generating station, and relies on a salmon model that has not been peer reviewed. Most importantly, it offers no enforceable commitments to protect salmon, relying instead on vague promises of future decisions and “adaptive management” around an unspecified operations strategy. Because Section 6 of the Federal Power Act makes it difficult to change a license after it is issued, a rigorous assessment of risks and strong and protective operational conditions must be established up front. There has been no rigorous assessment of the risks of this project to other fish species that use the falls for migration (e.g. pink and coho salmon, rainbow trout, grayling).

Cultural and subsistence resources. The application does not include Indigenous Knowledge, including Yup’ik names for salmon, plants, and wildlife. It makes no effort to document Traditional Cultural Places, and it evaluates the ancestral sites, place names, and portage trail at Nuyakuk Falls individually rather than as a connected Historic District or Traditional Cultural Place. The Area of Potential Effects for the transmission lines has not been proposed yet, and the effects of increased access along these corridors are not considered.

Subsistence data for Ekwok is severely lacking, the subsistence study methods were superficial, and the proposed monitoring would not track changes in how people actually harvest.

Climate and flows. The application does not meaningfully address warming trends and the associated changes in future river flows. Its “Future Flows Study,” which projects a fundamentally altered hydrograph, including near complete loss of the spring freshet, are missing from the impact evaluation. Rigorously incorporating these expectations for future flows under climate change is critical to both assessing the capacity to generate electricity in the future while simultaneously providing sufficient water in the river to protect migrating fish. Further, the DLA makes no attempt to account for year-to-year variability in flows, either for current or future conditions, to estimate the capacity to generate power and the need and costs for backup generating infrastructure. 

Engagement and cost. Insufficient engagement and Tribal consultation in the project area communities has persisted throughout the study and licensing process. The current comment period overlaps with critical subsistence practices, including the moose hunting season, berry picking, and fishing, and a single, two-hour townhall in Dillingham was too rushed for meaningful participation. Estimated costs now exceed $500 million, yet the project’s economic viability has not been demonstrated, meaning it may not generate enough electricity to pay for the costs.

Local opposition. Communities closest to the project including New Koliganek Village Council, New Stuyahok Village Council, Ekwok Village Council, and Koliganek Natives Limited passed formal resolutions opposing the project, and all three communities have formally opted out of the project altogether. 

I respectfully request that FERC not move forward with the licensing process until the Cooperative completes the following:

1. Commitment to specific and enforceable fish protections, including fish screens or proven fish-safe turbines.

2. Assess the economic and ecological risks of year-to-year variability in flows under current and plausible future climates

3. Complete the missing cultural, subsistence, climate, and flow studies, with Indigenous Knowledge included throughout.

4. Consult meaningfully with Tribes and communities across the region before any licensing decision.

Sincerely,