PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon is getting seven new salmon and steelhead habitat restoration projects, thanks to Pacific Power and Portland General Electric’s Habitat option/Salmon-Friendly electricity customers. In another environmental development, two of the utilities’ popular renewable power products are increasing their wind power content.

For the Sake of the Salmon today announced seven new salmon habitat restoration projects in Oregon, supported by more than 6,000 customers who purchase the utilities’ Habitat renewable power option, the Green Mountain Energy Salmon-Friendly Plan. By choosing the Salmon-Friendly option, customers make a monthly contribution through their electricity bill to For the Sake of the Salmon’s Pacific Salmon Watershed Fund (PSWF). The contributions go directly to projects that restore habitat for threatened fish.

“By signing up for the Salmon-Friendly option, Oregonians are putting their dollars to work for salmon,” explained Betsy Kauffman, program manager with For the Sake of the Salmon. “The projects funded by the program are opening up more than 15 miles of habitat that currently is blocked for fish passage. The Habitat option is a great opportunity for those who care about the future of our salmon runs to help make a difference.”

The announcement was made at the site of a recently rebuilt fish ladder near Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham. The additional projects will restore fish habitat in locations near Lakeside, on the southern Oregon Coast, Scappoose, Happy Valley, Oregon City, Canby and Albany.

The announced projects receiving support from the Habitat power option are:

• Tenmile Lakes Watershed Riparian Enhancement and Upslope Erosion Control Project near Lakeside
• Second Avenue Culvert Removal and Periwinkle Creek Restoration Project in Albany
• Lower Molalla River Mine Land Reclamation and Restoration Project near Canby
• Scappoose Bay Watershed Priority Fish Passage Correction near Scappoose
• Mt. Scott Creek Fish Passage Project in Happy Valley
• Milton Creek Dam Removal near Scappoose
• Oregon City Fish Passage Project in Oregon City

“Restoring salmon habitat and purchasing renewable power sends signals throughout the energy community that Oregonians will put their money where their hearts are when it comes to choosing cleaner energy,” observed Bill Edmonds, director of environmental policy for Pacific Power.

“Projects like these are the most visible ways our customers have improved the survival of threatened salmon and steelhead,” said Thor Hinckley, PGE's manager of renewable products. "Customers who choose the Salmon-Friendly option have an important role in restoring this resource.” 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Community-Based Restoration Program matched the Habitat funds for a total contribution of $165,500 toward habitat restoration in Oregon. In addition, the seven projects are receiving funding and in-kind support from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, local agencies, watershed councils, and other nonprofits.

“NOAA is committed to restoring habitat vital to our nation’s fisheries and is proud to partner with For the Sake of the Salmon, and power companies Pacific Power, Green Mountain Energy and Portland General Electric to accomplish this,” said Dr. William T. Hogarth, director of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service. “These projects represent a real win for Pacific salmon and a great example of how government can work hand in hand with private corporations to achieve similar goals.”

In addition to the salmon habitat projects, Green Mountain Energy Company announced an increase in wind content of Pacific Power’s and PGE’s Renewable Usage and Habitat options from 15 to 20 percent new wind. The wind power will come from the Stateline wind-generation facility, located on the Oregon/Washington border. The products’ remaining 80 percent of energy will be generated from geothermal sources in northern California. The change in the renewable content will not result in a price increase but will increase the amount of carbon dioxide a household can avoid.*

An Oregon household using about 1000 kWh a month can now prevent more than 3,500 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually – as much as a car makes when driven almost 4,000 miles.*

“Increasing the amount of wind in these renewable options gives Oregonians an even more powerful way to reduce their household’s share of CO2,” said Karen Norris, program director for Green Mountain Energy Company in Oregon. “Customers in Oregon are responsible for this improvement; they are part of a large customer base that is increasingly demonstrating demand for sources of cleaner energy.”

Earlier donations from PGE’s Salmon-Friendly option customers and Green Mountain Energy Company resulted in a multiyear repair of a fish ladder near Gresham. While it was built in the 1920s to help fish migrate upstream, the ladder actually blocked fish passage.

Last fall, the ladder – owned by Multnomah County – was retrofitted with a series of concrete weirs that create pools, which help provide access for fish to a half-mile of habitat on Beaver Creek that was previously blocked. More work on the fish ladder is scheduled for next summer to improve access for more fish. The project cost $100,000, with $30,000 coming from PGE’s Habitat option customers and Green Mountain Energy Company, and the balance from Multnomah County.

Since March 1, 2002, Oregonians have been able to choose from three renewable power options: Fixed Renewable – PGE’s Clean Windsm and Pacific Power’s Blue Skysm wind power; Renewable Usage – Green Mountain Energy Electricity; and Habitat – Green Mountain Energy Salmon-Friendly Plan.*

*Customers will not have electricity from a specific renewable generation facility delivered directly to their home or business, but are purchasing wind-generated power to be delivered to their region.

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