William O. Douglas

“ Section 7 (b) says 'Whenever, in the judgment of the Commission, the development of any water resources for public purposes should be undertaken by the United States itself,' the Commission shall not approve other applications. Yet the Commission by its rulings on the applications of the Secretary to intervene and to reopen precluded it from having the informed judgment that § 7 (b) commands.
We indicate no judgment on the merits. We do know that on the Snake-Columbia waterway between High Mountain Sheep and the ocean, eight hydroelectric dams have been built and another authorized. ”

“ Upstream migrants can be handled quite effectively by fish ladders. But those traveling downstream must go through the turbines; and their mortality is high. Moreover, Chinook salmon are 'basically river fish and do not appear to adapt to the different conditions presented by a reservoir.' 31 F.P.C. at 260. The ecology of a river is different from the ecology of a reservoir built behind a dam. What the full effect on salmon will be is not known. But we get a glimmering from the Commission's report. ”

“ Presumably the upstream migrants reaching fish ladders might at one time be presented with water from one river and at another time water from the other river. If water quality is important in attracting the upstream migrants to their proper streams, as many experts believe, this stratification would be a source of confusion and delay. Also a source of confusion to the upstream migrants would be the predicted tendency shown by the record for water from the Salmon River arm of the Nez Perce reservoir to flow up the Snake River arm and vice versa. ”

“ The Commission further noted that some salmon remain in the reservoir due to 'loss of water velocity or accumulation of dissolved salts' and are lost 'as perpetrators of the species.' But it did not have statistics showing the loss of the downstream migrants as a result of passing through the turbines. We are told from studies of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries that the greatest downstream migration occurs at night when turbine loads are lower. ”

“ The Federal Power Commission has awarded Pacific Northwest Power Company (a joint venture of four private power companies) a license to construct a hydroelectric power project at High Mountain Sheep, a site on the Snake River, a mile upstream from its confluence with the Salmon. ”

“ Anadromous Fish, Hearings before the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 88th Cong., 2d Sess., 11. The rapid depletion of the Nation's anadromous fish resources led Congress to enact the Anadromous Fish Act which authorizes federal-state cooperation for the conservation, development, and enhancement of the Nation's anadromous fish resources and to prevent their depletion from various causes including water resources development. ”

“ Since the upstream migrants follow water flow and downstream migrants are carried by current, such low velocities offer a further obstacle to the passage of anadromous fish.
'The record also shows that during the summer months the oxygen content of the water in the reservoir at the lower levels will fall to amounts which are dangerously insufficient for salmon. The decrease in oxygen content appears to be due to be decomposed sinking dead organisms (plankton) from the upper layers of water. ”

“ It is estimated that when the world's population reaches 7,000,000,000 as it will in a few decades-the total energy requirement [11] will be 70,000,000,000 metric tons of coal or equivalent annually and that it will be supplied as follows: By 1980 nuclear energy 'should represent a significant proportion of world power production.' Id., at 109. By the end of the century 'nuclear energy may account for about one-third of our total energy consumption.' Ibid. 'By the middle of the next century it seems likely that most of our energy needs will be satisfied by nuclear energy.' Id., at 110. ”

“ The addition of High Mountain Sheep Dam will not be needed until at least 1972-1973, and construction should be planned to bring it into production at that time or later as the developing power resource picture indicates.
'New generating facilities, which are not correlated to the power resources and power demands within the area of the marketing responsibility of BPA necessarily result in surpluses of power on the federal system which is the basic wholesale supplier of power in the area and thereby result in financial deficits on the federal marketing system. ”