Broken Bow Plan for River Questioned

By Penny Cockerell, The Daily Oklahoman

Jun. 27–BROKEN BOW — The city of Broken Bow expects to earn up to $1 million per year from a hydroelectric power plant it plans to build on the Lower Mountain Fork River.

But the project doesn’t come without major concerns for trout anglers, canoeists and the aquatic life in the river, according to comments submitted by the state Department of Wildlife Conservation.

The department is mainly concerned with how the proposed plant will affect the river’s flow, said Paul Balkenbush, the southeast region supervisor for the fisheries division.

If the water flows too rapidly the flourishing trout-fishing business, canoeing and other river activities will nearly cease, Balkenbush said. Trout fishing could dramatically decrease and canoes couldn’t handle the rapids, nor could anglers who typically fish while standing in the river balance themselves.

“When you look at the value of the fishery and that’s not even considering the canoeing and all the other things you can do, it becomes something of concern to us, as you can imagine,” Balkenbush said. “It is a pretty astonishing loss of fishing opportunity.”

Engineering consultant Bill Smith, who was hired by Broken Bow, said the plant simply will take water that already is flowing and use it to generate electricity. They aren’t adding or subtracting water. Nor are they making any special requests from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, because they’re only using the flow that the corps releases from Broken Bow Lake.

Smith said he addressed the wildlife concerns after meeting with Balkenbush and other agencies, plus area anglers and concerned citizens. Smith said the power plant actually will help steady the river flow by holding water back when it becomes too rapid. The only time they cannot control the flow will be during spring and fall flooding season.

The Broken Bow Dam hydroelectric power plant was first proposed in early 2004, but the project has been dormant until now. Since then, Broken Bow has gotten a new city manager, hired a new engineering consulting firm and revived the project, Balkenbush said.

One sticking point may come in the wildlife department’s insistence that a $100,000 study be done to predict water temperature, flow and other factors if the plant is built. Smith said the city wants the study to be done as a condition of the license, once the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issues it and construction has begun.

Balkenbush said the likelihood of solving problems found by the study is less if construction is under way. He thinks it should be done much sooner.

“It’s the only way you can answer complex questions about complex issues,” Balkenbush said. “Otherwise, it’s just hand-waving.”

The plant will be a secondary source of electricity for Broken Bow, said Olen Hill, Broken Bow city manager. If licensed, it should be completed by about 2010. Hill said he expects it to immediately turn a $1 million profit annually, based on today’s prices. The electricity could be sold directly to Broken Bow customers or to other electricity vendors. The profits will be used to pay the debt of building the plant.

“With electrical costs going up like they are, if we can save our customers money in the long run with hydroelectric power, that’s what we want to do,” Hill said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Daily Oklahoman

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