In this aerial file photo taken on Oct. 9, 2009, a planned site for a potential dam outside of Pe Ell is seen.
A letter has been sent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from the Chehalis Basin Flood Control Zone District requesting the establishment and funding of a position at the state Department of Ecology as the proposal to construct a dam south of Pe Ell continues.
Erik Martin, the administrator of the district, told The Chronicle the letter would be sent by Friday.
It’s one of the steps that has to take place before Ecology begins the scoping process for an environmental impact statement on the proposed water retention facility. The EIS would look at several alternatives for the dam, as well as an option to do nothing. The preliminary timeline for the EIS has been set for the 2017-19 biennium, and the hope is it will still be completed within that timeframe.
The work continues, even with the lack of a state capital budget, which could hinder or slow down the process.
“I don’t know how much further we can go unless the Legislature passes the capital budget,” Martin said. “The money to fund the EIS is tied up in that.”
The Legislature failed to approve a capital budget after three special sessions.
Martin said the goal is to do some preliminary work to get the Water Resources Reform and Development Act agreement in place — which would establish the position that would help expedite the process.
On July 6, in what the Chehalis River Basin Flood Control Zone District board of supervisors said was a “historic move,” a resolution was approved that authorized the board to become the sponsor of the dam.
The resolution was approved unanimously by the board of supervisors, which consists of commissioners Gary Stamper, Edna Fund and Bobby Jackson, but runs as its own governmental body.
The resolution also allows the board of supervisors to apply for permits to construct the dam, its associated facilities, and to raise the Chehalis-Centralia Airport levee.
“One of the things that makes this moment pointed for us as commissioners and supervisors, and also for the county, is that this day has been long anticipated, and long awaited for,” Jackson said during the July meeting. “There have been numerous people who have worked on this diligently. ... This is a historic day and I’m excited about what’s going to come down the line.”
Now as the project sponsors of the dam, the board of supervisors will be tasked with selecting one of three options for the water retention facility.
The decision does not include a “hard and fast deadline,” Martin said. Ecology and the Corps, as environmental leads on the project, will eventually want to know what the board of supervisors prefer as the agencies begin the state environmental policy act and national environmental policy act processes.
“They haven’t formally decided yet, so they are still weighing their options,” Martin said on Thursday.
Those options include a flood retention-only dam, which would only have a reservoir during a major flood event, and a flood-retention and flow augmentation dam, which would have a permanent reservoir pool that could be released to help cool water temperatures in warmer months.
A third option, one that mixes the two concepts, has also been presented. The hybrid dam option would initially be built like the flood retention only dam, but would include a larger foundation suitable for an expansion for a bigger structure that could capture larger floods in the future.
The options provide the same amount of flood reduction, but come with differing price tags ranging from $310 million to $575 million, according to numbers presented in July.
During discussions on the different options, J. Vander Stoep, an alternate on the Chehalis Basin Flood Authority, a former member of the Governor’s Work Group and a member on the new Office of Chehalis Basin board, said building a bigger structure results in a significant cost difference and comes with more difficulties in the permitting stage.
“I think if you ask people in Lewis County which they would prefer, they would prefer the larger facility with both a flow augmentation benefit and flood reduction, but overwhelmingly more important than that to them is flood protection,” he said at the July meeting. “Both facilities provide the exact same flood reduction.”
In July, Fund was elected as the chairwoman of the board of supervisors, while Jackson was selected as the vice chairman.
“This is a monumental day for myself personally,” Fund said during the time of her appointment, discussing the amount of time she’s dedicated to reducing flooding.
Although the board of supervisors have sponsored the dam, that does not mean the board would have to own or maintain the dam in the future. Those discussions will take place at a later date.
The Legislature is expected to fund the newly formed Office of Chehalis Basin when a budget compromise is reached. The governor, House and Senate all proposed $42 million or more in their respective proposed budgets.
As of now, Martin said the flood control zone district is “sort of floating on its own.”
“The money that the Office of Chehalis Basin sort of tried to allocate was more for Ecology’s efforts and their consultant to keep working on the flooding issues,” he said. “Right now, the flood control zone district is not getting any of that money. ... we’re waiting for when and if (the Legislature) passes a capital budget.”
The flood control zone district will meet at 1:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month as it continues its work. The meetings, held in the commissioner’s hearing room at the courthouse, 351 NW North St., Chehalis, are open to the public.
