Could Federal Hatcheries Be In Peril

[bigredbirdfan]

Only a few percent of our power is hydroelectric and I wonder what the cost return ratio has been. Extremely expensive to operate these dams.

[Justin Spencer]

Extremely expensive to operate these dams.

Not sure where this comes from, but it only costs about .6-.7 cents per kwh for hydro power compared to 2.2 cents per kwh for coal. In the pacific northwest where 60% of their power comes from hydorelectric they pay 1/3 the costs for power of what the average American pays. Once the dam is built it is extremely cheap to run the plant as they are now fully automated and require few staff members. In addition the plants are long lived with many still operating that were built 50 to 100 years ago.

I would love to see local rivers in their former splendor, but it would be extremely counterproductive to eliminate this clean energy source at a time where we are looking for more and cleaner energy.

[gotmuddy]

Only a few percent of our power is hydroelectric and I wonder what the cost return ratio has been. Extremely expensive to operate these dams.

The dams paid for themselves decades ago if for no other reason than flood control.

[Tim Smith]

Not sure where this comes from, but it only costs about .6-.7 cents per kwh for hydro power compared to 2.2 cents per kwh for coal. In the pacific northwest where 60% of their power comes from hydorelectric they pay 1/3 the costs for power of what the average American pays. Once the dam is built it is extremely cheap to run the plant as they are now fully automated and require few staff members. In addition the plants are long lived with many still operating that were built 50 to 100 years ago.

I would love to see local rivers in their former splendor, but it would be extremely counterproductive to eliminate this clean energy source at a time where we are looking for more and cleaner energy.

I'm afraid I agree with Justin here. I vastly prefer native smallies to stocked trout. I'm also a big proponent of dam removal (and if you aren't, get your butt off the bank and FISH instead of just sitting in that big scour hole and staring at a bobber) but the dams that are coming down are the smaller less functional ones. No one I know is aiming at the bigger targets.

The reality is that the huge infrastructural monsters will never be intentionally removed. Grand Coolie, Hoover, TVA and these hydroelectric impoundments in the Ozarks all do important economic work along with their significant environmental damage. Maybe some of the more damaging impoundments on the Snake will eventually go (and I'd support that), but even that's a long shot.

I'd love to join Muddy on that float, but it's just never going to happen.

Maybe you have a choice about how to administrate the "bread and circus" trout fishery in the tailwaters, but you're definitely stuck with the dams.

[snagged in outlet 3]

This is an earlier post in this thread Bigredbirdfan.

"Discussing it with a couple of people this morning who hav been reading this stuff they were amazed the Corp receives a such a large slice of the generation revenue AND gets the year to year operations and maintenance bill footed by the Presidential Budget, and special capital works come from the Budget too and yet don't pay for mitigation

Perhaps this state of affairs was understandable when the dam was first built with a much lower population/power demand. Now Bull Shoals is paid for and its a cash cow.

The Corp simply should meet the bill with an earmarked very specification allocation to meet the needs of the mitigation hatcheries, including the $ in deferred maintenance _ after all that was the intent of the statement in the budget from the Commander in Chief"

SIO3

[Justin Spencer]

I think most would agree that the first thing the revenue from the power plant should go to is mitigation of the environmental impact the dam has had on the area. It would seem this revenue is already being used somewhere in the govt. to fund some sort of program other than the hatchery. Looks to me like reallocation of these funds would cause a cut in another "unknown" program that I'm sure is also hurting for money. Looking back we should have seen these cuts coming at some time and made an attempt to ensure the hatchery was the #1 on the list for hydroelectric revenue. I hope the funding for continued operation of the hatchery can be secured, but even if it is those passionate about the hatchery and the fisheries they provide should not be satisfied until a long term solution is put in place.

[flytyer57]

I'd love to join Muddy on that float, but it's just never going to happen.

A few more earthquakes around here and we all might just get to see that happen.

[gotmuddy]

I said a few posts earlier about taking water from the top of the lake for hydroelectric power. Would that be viable for keeping the tailwaters warm?

[flytyer57]

I said a few posts earlier about taking water from the top of the lake for hydroelectric power. Would that be viable for keeping the tailwaters warm?

Yes. But the cost of changing the dam structure around would really not be worth it at this time.

[gotmuddy]

Yes. But the cost of changing the dam structure around would really not be worth it at this time.

When would be a good time? Think of the smallmouth fishing that could be found between bull shoals and batesville.