20160823AVU to Staff 112.doc

AVISTA CORPORATION
RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

JURISDICTION: IDAHO DATE PREPARED: 08/22/2016
CASE NO: AVU-E-16-03 WITNESS: Scott Kinney
REQUESTER: IPUC RESPONDER: Heide Evans/Karen Schuh
TYPE: Production Request DEPARTMENT: Environmental
REQUEST NO.: Staff - 112 TELEPHONE: [phone]

REQUEST:

Please provide a copy of all mitigation agreements and a list of all associated pre-determined spending commitments for the Clark Fork relicensing. Please also provide a summary of the associated annual costs. Information, where applicable, should be listed by O&M expense, contract and other expense, construction and other account groups (listed by functional categories). Please include wages and salaries for each employee category (officer, exempt, non-exempt, and union), paid time-off, overtime, bonuses, incentive pay, and overheads for pension, benefits, and payroll taxes. Please also include average and year-end number of employees by employee category. Please include part-time and temporary employees as full-time equivalents. Please provide a detailed description and examples of how the Company took steps to control costs determined by the agreements and the Collaborative.

RESPONSE:

Avista owns and operates the Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge hydroelectric developments (Clark Fork Project No. 2058). The operation of the Clark Fork Project is conditioned by the Clark Fork Settlement Agreement (CFSA), signed in 1999, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) License No. 2058, effective date of March 1, 2001. The CFSA and FERC license established Protection, Mitigation and Enhancement measures (PM&Es). The CFSA and FERC license also established a number of committees and a process for the review and approval of the implementation of all the PM&Es.

The ultimate decision making body is FERC, however, prior to Avista requesting FERC approval, all proposed PM&E activities are approved by the Clark Fork Management Committee (MC). The MC is comprised of the 28 signatories to the CFSA. The MC includes representatives from federal, state, and local government, five Native American tribes, non-governmental organizations and Avista. The MC strives to make all decisions, including approval of planned activities and expenditures, by consensus.

The annual approval process begins on December 1st of each year, when the first drafts of Annual Implementation Plans (AIPs) are due to Avista. These draft AIPs are prepared by stakeholders and/or Avista. During this month all aquatic Protection, Mitigation and Enhancement (PM&E) AIPs (CFSA Appendix A, B, C, D, E, F1, F2, F3, F4, F5 and T) are reviewed by the Aquatic Implementation Team (Avista, IDFG, MFWP and USFWS fishery biologists). The first drafts for the terrestrial PM&Es are also due December 1st of each year, and are developed by Avista with input of our stakeholders. Depending upon the resource being addressed, these draft Terrestrial AIPs are reviewed and refined by subcommittees of the Terrestrial Resource Technical Advisory Committee (TRTAC established in the CFSA) , such as the Riparian Implementation Team, Land Use Subgroup, or Recreation Resources Subgroup.
Following this initial review process, all proposed individual projects that deal with stream habitat restoration, habitat acquisitions/easements and total dissolved gas mitigation efforts are ranked and prioritized following established Management Committee (MC) approved ranking criteria. Usually, these types of proposed projects are found within Appendix A, B, F1, H, and K. The process is undertaken by interested participants from the Water Resources Technical Advisory Committee (WRTAC) and TRTAC composed of representatives from the CFSA signatories.

After this ranking process, all of the draft AIPs, including the top ranked stream habitat restoration, habitat acquisitions/easements and total dissolved gas mitigation projects, are collated and mailed, depending on subject category, to either the WRTAC or TRTAC for their review and consideration. The Cultural Resources Technical Advisory Committee also receives all of the AIPs for their review and consideration. Formal meetings of these Technical Committees are held toward the end of January where all AIPs are reviewed, modified and/or approved to be forwarded onto the Management Committee.

After a short internal editing period, all of the draft AIPs are collated and mailed to the MC for their review and consideration in the middle of February. During their March meeting, usually held in the middle of the month, the MC reviews, modifies and approves the AIPs for the year. All AIPs are then submitted for FERC approval by April 15th. Meeting notes from the Management Committee and all subcommittees are available upon request.

Please see Staff_PR_112 Attachment A for the 2016 Clark Fork Settlement Agreement Implementation Plans. Please see Staff_PR_112 Attachment B for the 2015 Clark Fork Settlement Agreement Implementation Plans. A summary of the associated annual budget is included within these documents.

Please see Staff_PR_112 Attachment C for the O&M and Capital costs summarized for 2015 which is readily available. For additional detail regarding CFSA capital and expense activity for the period 2010 through 2015 see Avista’s response to Staff_PR_121.

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