Free The Kern

01/18/2024

SCE has a general KR3 “Rec Use” survey online here:

https://arcg.is/8v4T8

FTK has tried to underscore the KR3 hydroproject’s negative effects at fish flow both to aesthetics and angling. It would be great to fill this survey up with comments about both. Comments along the lines of the river looking slow/shallow/sad/dead now that it’s at ~45cfs or that angling is poor compared with the section above Fairview Dam would be great if that’s how you feel. Edison needs these ultra-low fish flows to keep the project financially feasible. Anything we do to raise fish flows not only improves the health of the riverine environment but also increases the chances ultimately for decommissioning.

It’d be great if folks could fill one out every time they drive north of the Tulare county line (for instance to Limestone) so as to establish that folks don’t like looking at these fish flows, especially those down in the double digits. Just pick a site you looked out at the river on your drive up and fire away. The survey is a tad long. However, once you do it once, you should get the hang of it — leave a lot of “prefer not to answers” to speed it up is one strategy — and you could probably get one done in a minute or two. And yes, it’s ridiculous that the survey must be about a specific trip up there (thus excluding folks who choose not to visit because of low flows). But the trip can be “sightseeing” or “scenic driving,” so that’s what we have to work with.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

12/08/2023

Many supporters of FTK attended the ISR meeting, but now is the time to put your thoughts onto paper (or into the cloud). We encourage you to express yourself strong and proud, and here’s our general thoughts on the ISR: pick and choose those you'd like to support in comment if you're so inclined!

Edison should be directed to alter its diversion to establish flow travel times between Fairview Dam and the powerhouse. Hydrology summaries should: use the median for an asymmetrical water year system like the NF Kern, account for the vast amount of time the project was offline last term (not guaranteed in the next), represent that project effects are greatest in low and moderate water years, and reflect the flows that are authorized by the license since Edison is proposing no license changes. The California Environmental Flows Framework (CEFF) rubric should be applied to flows (actual and authorized!) below Fairview Dam, not just above; otherwise, how can we get a handle on the project’s effects to the functional flow metrics that riverine life depends upon? Make Edison report the Level 1 boater survey NOW (it was due months ago) and give the public the raw data to analyze. Demand that Edison calculate boating days lost with a modern minimum flow, use monthly medians, and account for water year types and project downtime. Get us some goddam representative panels — not just those stuffed with local business owners and Edison cronies. Tell the truth about what boaters want: a calendar of days focused on the runoff season in which there is no diversion, regardless of inflows. Stop with the whitewater surveys and give us the gold standard of studies: a controlled flow study to determine once and for all how many days the project is costing us — with a representative panel of persons most affected by the diversion, i.e., locals & Southern Californians. Give the general public an online survey about river aesthetics and fish flows — don’t just survey people who visited recently knowing the diversion was in place, let those who stay away because of the diversion be heard as well. And make Edison move to Level 2 site visit studies on aesthetics and angling immediately since they screwed up the surveys. Make Edison’s desktop studies fairly reflect the facts in opposition to this diversion and its undeniably negative effects on the social and natural environments — not just a rehash of sources supporting the status quo. Study the market’s need — none? marginal? — for the energy produced by KR3 on hourly, daily, and monthly scales. And scrutinize Edison’s brazenly self-serving claim that importing energy at times of solar glut incurs "significant" costs to consumers, when Edison imported energy into the valley for 16 straight months (2013-2014) with no rate hikes.

Thank you for any help you can provide!

FERC is the federal agency in charge of hydroproject relicensing. It is not likely to be persuaded solely by KRB’s filings — we need a groundswell of community support behind our positions. We have tried to tee up the issues for you; we urge you to support us with FERC in your own voice. Tell th...

08/04/2023

The solar glut and renewable curtailment make KR3's generation during most daylight hours a big negative for the grid: https://www.kernriverboaters.com/blog/curtailment

06/13/2023

Sadly, much of the FERC-authorized "study season" for KR3 will take place during this extremely unusual water year. This graph, which compares average inflows at Fairview Dam for the last 27 water years (the duration of the 1996 license to date), shows just how much of an outlier it is. Since KR3 is physically limited to taking 600 cfs from the river, its effects on the 16-mile diverted stretch are (relatively) reduced when natural inflows are high and enlarged when inflows are low. This high water year will infect much of the "public perception" survey data that Edison prevailed upon using in lieu of real science on issues such as angling, whitewater, and aesthetics, as well as the few scientific studies authorized on river health. Almost no years are like this one. We will ask for your support this fall to support our efforts to extend and expand the study season to capture the full sum of deleterious effects this project imposes on the North Fork Kern's natural and social environment.

09/08/2022

The current heatwave and associated worries about blackouts only underlines how little benefit the KR3 hydroproject confers to our society. Unlike most of this state's large hydroprojects which have been helping to provide energy at this critical time, KR3 has no water storage; it can only take water out of the river in real time. The Kern watershed's snowpack is almost always depleted by this time of year, and thus, as the attached graph shows, KR3 is nowhere to be found when it comes to our energy needs in late summer and early fall, when the possibility of load shedding is at its highest. On the other hand, KR3 produces the lion's share of its energy in Spring, when demand is low and renewable output is high -- indeed, KR3's generation forces renewables to curtail (shut down) during that time, rendering those superior technologies less profitable. In short, KR3 generates when we don't need it, and is missing in action when we do, and that does not justify the devastation it commits to the natural and human environment in the 16-mile dewatered reach of the North Fork Kern.

07/21/2022

Just like last summer, Edison is dewatering our river at the hottest time of the year to generate power under the guise of supplying water to a closed hatchery. the difference this year? State fish and wildlife told them to stop doing this, yet they persist. Edison thinks little of our governing agencies, and even less for the health of our river . . .

Kern River advocates accuse Southern California Edison of robbing the river's natural flows by illegally taking water for a fish hatcher that's been closed for more than two years.

06/09/2022

Free The Kern is extremely pleased to share that both Trout Unlimited and the Kern River Conservancy have submitted formal comment to FERC in support of our mission, the decommissioning of KR3: no more dewatering the 16 river miles below Fairview Dam, no more damage to the river and the environment it supports. We will continue to tirelessly educate and advocate for our goal. Help us spread the word to

https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filelist?accession_num=20220606-5243

https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filelist?accession_num=20220603-5004

06/06/2022

There's still time to get your comments in on this latest round of FERC study requests. Just tell FERC you support all the requests and comments of Kern River Boaters and Kern River Fly Fishers Club. This link tells you how: kernriverboaters.com/blog/ferc. And please share this page with folks who share our vision of a free and unencumbered North Fork Kern River.

FERC is the federal agency in charge of hydroproject relicensing. It is not likely to be persuaded solely by KRB’s filings — we need a groundswell of community support behind our positions. We have tried to tee up the issues for you; we urge you to support us with FERC in your own voice. Tell th...

05/25/2022

KR3 poses a significant threat to life and property. In 2013, KR3's sister project in the canyon (KR1) suffered a catastrophic failure causing two major landslides that closed Highway 178 — the KRV's major artery to the world — in both directions for 10 days. Luck is the only thing that prevented loss of life on the highway. We believe an independent engineering firm should evaluate the risks posed by KR3. It transports 2,309,524 pounds of water every minute — 50% more than KR1 — 821 feet above Mountain 99. Tell FERC you believe the same; here's how:

In 2013, the forebay of sister project KR1 failed catastrophically, causing a flood that eroded the mountainside and a landslide that closed Highway 178 for 10 days