The Shoshone Falls Hydroelectric Project (FERC No. 2778) is a run-of-river impoundment that currently has a nameplate rating of 12.5 MW.  At a height of 212 feet, the falls have been called the “Niagara of the West.”

Idaho Power filed its license application on the Shoshone Falls project in 1997 and completed requests for additional information relating to the project in early 2000. FERC issued the final Environmental Impact Statement in July 2002, and in August 2004, granted a 30-year license for the Shoshone Falls hydroelectric project. The project will be operated in a run-of-river mode for the protection of invertebrates, fish, federally listed snails and riparian vegetation around the project and in the Snake River downstream.

Subsequent to license issuance, Idaho Power proposed an amendment to this license with plans to augment the existing power production facilities with an additional turbine and to make other changes at its Shoshone Falls plant, including the addition of a second powerhouse. The proposed changes would not affect the company’s license agreement that provides 300 cubic feet per second of water over the falls between April 1 and Labor Day weekend, and additional aesthetic flows are proposed in the amendment during the high water runoff period.

On Aug. 29, 2005, Idaho Power mailed its Initial Consultation Document regarding this proposed amendment to interested stakeholders for review. Agency and public meetings to discuss the proposed amendments were held Sept. 28, 2005. The draft License Amendment Application was issued for comment in December 2005, and the final application was filed with the FERC in August 2006. Idaho Power received 11 additional information requests from the FERC and made a timely filing response by Nov. 10, 2006.

Since then the FERC released its Draft Environmental Assessment on the amendment application at the end of February 2007, and is taking comments, terms and conditions from the agencies at this time. Idaho Power has until mid-June to provide a response to those comments. The FERC should decide the fate of the amendment application by mid- to late-2007.

Shoshone Falls License Order and Amendments