HomeMy Public PortalAboutGoose Creek Hydroelectrical ProjectStatesman Septmber 3, 1989
McCall man,
tribe appeal
hydro project
The Associated Press . \rAA
MCCALL — A Forest Service
decision on the proposed Goose
Creek hydroelectrical project
near McCall has been appealed
by a summer resident of the town
and the Nez Perce Indian Tribe.
The project proposed by West-
ern Hydro Electric Inc. of Salt
Lake City would divert water
from Brundage and Goose creeks,
both located west of Brundage
Mountain Ski Area.
The appeal means the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission,
which controls the permit process
for hydro projects, cannot issue a
license to build the plan until the
appeal has been resolved.
One of the appellants is Peter
Rowell, a retired physician from
Salem, Ore., who has homes in
Palm Desert, Calif., and McCall.
Rowell and the Nez Perce filed
the appeal jointly, said Dale Tor -
geson, appeals manager for the
Forest Service in Ogden, Utah.
The appellants, who call them-
selves the Coalition for the Pres-
ervation of Goose Creek Falls and
Canyon, want the Forest Service
to conduct more extensive studies
on the environmental and cultur-
al effects of the project.
The water would be sent
through nearly two miles of pipe
to the turbines that would gener-
ate 3.8- megawatts. The project
would cause irreversible damage
to the forest around the plant, the
appeal says.
"The project is pushed by an
out -of -state investors group ask-
ing to despoil the Idaho environ-
ment for subsidized profit only,"
it says.
The area also should be protect-
ed for its historical significance
to the Nez Perce, which once
lived there and used Goose Creek
for religious purposes, the appeal
says.