Weber River Agreement Calls For New Flows & Access (UT)

Posted: 01/18/2019
By: Kevin Colburn

American Whitewater has spent the past three years participating in the relicensing of a hydropower dam on Utah's Weber River that dewaters a stretch of whitewater known as the Scrambled Eggs run. Last year, we reached an agreement with all parties calling for improved take-out access, as well as four pulse flow releases each year that will support whitewater paddling and the river's ecology. This agreement is core to the dam owner's 2018 federal dam license application, which we recently supported in formal comments.  

Local paddler and AW volunteer Charlie Vincent worked closely with American Whitewater staff on this project (thanks Charlie!). The potential outcomes on this project are tightly constrained by land ownership and management concerns, water rights, geography, hydrology, project economics, and a lack of reservoir storage. 

In American Whitewater's recent intervention and comments on the License Application (43MB), we point out that we support the proposed releases and that we view access enhancements as easily accomplished on US Forest Service land. FERC will consider the application and comments prior to issuing a new license for the project. Releases could begin as early as the summer of 2020, but could also take additional time. 

We are in need of a real estate attorney or realtor with the capacity to conduct detailed and documented property research around the project, which is located near Ogden, UT. A landscape architect would also be a valued addition to our volunteer team on this project. If you or someone you know is interested please let us know. 

 

 

Associated Projects

Weber River Hydropower

Relicensing the Weber River Hydroelectric Project, near Ogden Utah.

Associated Rivers

Weber UT

Documents

Weber AW License Application Comments (12/14/2018)

American Whitewater's intervention and comments in support of the hydropower license application for the Weber River Project (UT)

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