EWEB

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Eugene Water and Electric Board Violating Endangered Species Act  

Today, conservation organizations filed suit against the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) alleging ongoing violations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). For over sixteen years, the public utility has been out of legal compliance with federal requirements to provide proper fish passage for ESA-listed Chinook salmon and bull trout at the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric Project and Trail Bridge Dam on the famed McKenzie River. 

Press Release: Eugene Water and Electric Board’s Unanimously Votes to Decommission Leaburg Hydroelectric Project on the McKenzie River

January 4, 2023 — Following years of extensive research, analysis, and outreach, the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) Commission voted unanimously to initiate a plan to decommission the Leaburg Hydroelectric Project on the McKenzie River at its January 3 meeting. The Board of Commissioners formally approved EWEB General Manager Frank Lawson’s December 6 recommendations to decommission the project, which discontinued electricity generation in 2018, and remove the aging Leaburg Dam.