The Kilarc Project
The Kilarc Project
Welcome to the Kilarc Project web site. Davis Hydro intends to work with the community to continue the operation the Kilarc Hydropower facility in a manner that enhances fish resources, fish research, community services, and fishing in the area. This we call the Kilarc Project and it is an Alternative to PG&E's demolition proposal.
This page will change on a continuous basis as work goes on and we learn how best to implement the project in the future.
The News Page was up-dated 5-24-2010
The process and formation of the elements of this facility is discussed under the Process and Status text in the green area on the left, or on the left or here. This pages changes as the process is fluid with changing environmental and legal requirements.
Currently, in response to PG&E releasing their License Surrender Application to demolish the Kilarc Facility. Numerous groups and agencies have submitted comments on the Surrender License and have Intervened. We have also released an issues paper that addresses the context of the evaluation of the alternatives to demolition.
More recently - August 2008, Davis Hydro released the Reconstruction Alternative to save Kilarc Reservoir, the Canal, and the Hydropower. This Alternative to demolition meets everyone's objections, and far exceeds the fisheries gains produced by any other Alternative. This Alternative reconstructs the Kilarc Canal as a major spawning habitat. In this Alternative, the Canal is screened at the downstream end and seaward-moving fish are conveyed down to the Old Cow. This plan is a revision of the Alternative I that was distributed in April 2008 --- which, in turn, was based on an earlier similar proposal.
This Alternative focuses on the restoration of steelhead trout. It is new and uses all of the existing infrastructure and augments it to emit a genetically rich steelhead juvenile population. It will maintain the forebay much as we know it. It turns the canal into a productive fish production facility affording extensive research opportunities. The hydro is expected to throw off profits and there will be an outreach off-project component that will improve habitat on willing ranches using a share of these moneys.
It does not address the South Cow which is the subject of separate current and future proposals and working papers.
The intention of this proposal is to provide an environmentally responsible Alternative to PG&E's demolition based decommissioning plan.