Pierce County dam operator sued for third time after turf released in Puyallup River
Citizens for a Healthy Bay filed a lawsuit on March 9 against an Orting dam after turf polluted the Puyallup River during a construction project last summer.
The Tacoma nonprofit and Seattle-based Puget Soundkeeper Alliance allege in their lawsuit that Electron Hydro violated the federal Clean Water Act when crews placed a layer of field turf in the bed of the Puyallup River while working on a diversion system last summer. Field turf escaped and flowed downstream.
The lawsuit also claims the daily operation of the hydropower dam pollutes the river.
CEO of Electron Hydro, Thom Fisher, said the dam itself does not pollute.
“We are in the renewable energy business,” he told The Puyallup Herald. “We are trying to find solutions that don’t pollute the land, the air and the water.”
This is the third lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for Western Washington against the hydropower dam in recent months.
The U.S Justice Department filed a lawsuit in November accusing Electron Hydro of breaking work permits and polluting the Puyallup River with turf pellets and plastic yarn.
The Puyallup Tribe’s December lawsuit focuses on the Endangered Species Act. The tribe claims the dam “stranded, suffocated and pulverized thousands of adult and juvenile fish.”
Citizens for a Healthy Bay’s executive director Melissa Malott said it was important to file a separate suit because this case focuses on pollution of the daily operations of the dam and the violations of the Clean Water Act.
“They cause a lot of fish kill and pollution in the river, and they have to be held liable for that,” Malott said.
The environmental organizations are seeking fines, attorneys’ fees, experts’ fees, other costs of litigation and permanent injunctive relief. The lawsuit also asks for Electron Hydro to provide the two organizations reports and other documents that are provided to federal and state agencies regarding the facility, and remediate the “environmental harm caused by any of its violations of the Clean Water Act.”
Among other things, the lawsuit alleges Electron Hydro “discharges heat” while operating that pollutes the Puyallup River.
Fisher encourages any environmental group to visit the dam.
“If there is an environmental group with concerns, I’d like to hear them,” he told The Puyallup Herald. “We want to be good stewards of the river and the land, and that’s our goal.
Fisher said protecting the fish is a top priority for the dam, and that 320,000 chinook salmon were released into the Puyallup River with the help of the Puyallup Tribe last year.
“We made a commitment to put as many fish in the Puyallup River as we possibly could,” he said.
Malott pointed out that the outcome of the two other District Court cases is uncertain.
“You don’t know what is going to happen with what the judge decides in those two other lawsuits. We want to make sure that the claims are all covered, and they will be held accountable for at least what you have filed for,” she said.
Citizens for a Healthy Bay and Puget Soundkeeper Alliance have also filed to intervene in the DOJ case.
Fisher said he is glad there will be local environmental involvement in the case against his company.
“I welcome local concerns from people who care about the environment here. So do we,” he said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service suspended the dam’s license to handle bull trout after the agency claimed there were probable moralities in a separate incident last summer.
Many organizations and groups, including Pierce County and the Puyallup Tribe, are calling for the closure of Electron Hydro after the turf incident.
In July, the hydropower dam company began a construction project to upgrade its diversion system that was intended to protect fish. The diversion system diverts water from the Puyallup River into a wooden flume that travels down to the dam and creates power.
Fischer told The News Tribune in September the objective of the upgrade was to ensure no fish got trapped in the diversion system and ultimately in the dam.
While crews worked on the diversion system in the riverbed, a portion of the river had to be shifted to a bypass channel. The turf was placed between linings in a river bypass created by Electron Hydro crews.
They added plastic linings and artificial turf to seal the river into the bypass and prevent water from leaking into the work area, Fischer then said.
The artificial turf was added last minute to prevent the plastic liner from puncturing on sharp rocks in the bypass. The decision was not permitted nor cleared by Pierce County.
When the diversion began, the liner in the bypass slid and tore. A plastic lining and portions of the artificial turf, made of vehicle tires, were carried away by the current in August.
Fischer said Electron crews have recovered almost all of the synthetic turf.
