We who commit to defending the Skykomish River against the Snohomish Public Utility District’s dangerous hydroelectric proposal must challenge it and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with “Ground Rules” of our own.

Like a parent restraining a bullying, disruptive child, citizen stakeholders must intervene to prevent the PUD from destroying our ecological commons. The PUD’s 2013 statistics demonstrate overdependence on hydroelectric generation (86 percent) and dismal performance on Solar (less than 1 percent).

The last thing The PUD should do is increase hydroelectric development. But they aren’t listening. Not to public opinion calling for a solar alternative. Not to tribes or the National Parks Service calling for a second testing season to determine impact on fisheries.

1. As mitigation for historic overdependence on hydropower, the PUD must fund upgrading of the Fish Trap and Haul, including additional staffing as necessary.

2. The PUD must withdraw its FERC hydro application. The real solution is a vastly expanded solar rooftop program linked to its MESA battery system. Imagine how much solar energy could be generated from subscriber rooftops, such as the Boeing plant and solar-covered parking at Tulalip’s Quilceda Village.

3. Steve Klein must resign. No CEO of the PUD should recklessly insist that “environmental leadership” includes blasting a drain hole in the Skykomish, sucking the river down a tunnel blasted out of granite under an active landslide, dumping fish and wildlife into a toxic leachate of minerals flowing back into the river above Sunset Falls.

4. With nearly 100 percent of FERC hydropower applications approved that reach its desk for permit issue, FERC’s process appears stacked against the health of the Wild and Scenic Skykomish Watershed.

Art Petersen

Seattle