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	Name:	keyman -
	Subject:	ruling
	Date:	11/9/2008 12:38:01 PM

I am posting a letter that will soon be on the SLISA's website.

A brief introduction. The relicense proscess is very long and quite technical. The below letter contains references to the FERC website which can be accessed by any user at www.ferc.gov. My goal in the below letter is to update SLISA members on what is currently happening in the relicense. I will be happy to answer any questions and can be reached at jared@jaredkey.com or call me directly 205 516-2186.

Cooling Towers the Answer for Higher Smith Lake Levels

Alabama Power Company Admits.

Limiting the amount of water that may be released from Smith will prevent Gorgas Steam Plant from being able to operate. Alabama Power would be required to design, construct and operate cooling towers at the
Gorgas Steam Plant.

A Big Hello to all from SLISA.

To keep you updated on Alabama Powers (APC) relicensing process we are noting several significant items that have occurred.
Back in March of 2008 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an Environmental Assessment (EA). SLISA responded to this EA and from those comments FERC decided to issue an Additional Information Request (AIR) to Alabama Power Company (APC) on July 2nd 2008. The complete document an be viewed at

http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/opennat.asp?fileID=11732027 .

Part of this AIR was to model the SLISA Alternative. This Alternative is maintaining the lake between the 510’ msl to the 505’ msl between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Thence fom Labor Day to December 1st to lower the lake level from the 505’ msl to the 502’ msl. The 502’ msl would be the lower limit except in times of extreme drought.
FERC originally gave APC 45 days to respond to this request and later gave APC an additional 45 days. APC submitted their response on October 3rd, 2008. The complete document can be viewed at

http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/OpenNat.asp?fileID=11821635 .

Since that time SLISA’s staff of experts has been analyzing the submitted information. SLISA submitted comments detailing the discrepancies in APC’s AIR response. The Full response can be viewed at

http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/opennat.asp?fileID=11843701 .

A brief breakdown on APC’s response. The response from APC contained numerous mischaracterizations and therefore inaccurate conclusiions.

This is an excerpt from SLISA’s comments.

APC incorrectly assumed that under the SLISA Alternative, water would be discharged in exactly the same manner as APC actually operated in each of the three years it evaluated until the lake was drawn down to 505 feet msl, at which point all releases would stop. Clearly, the Project could not be operated in this manner without significant adverse consequences to many interests. This is not what SLISA intended, and APC’s attempt to characterize our alternative as such is disingenuous. Except during periods of exceptional drought, we expect that under the SLISA Alternative the elevation of Smith Lake will be very close to 502 feet msl at the beginning of each year.

Although APC mischaracterized our alternative there was one very important admission made by APC.

Limiting the amount of water that may be released from storage at Smith during the important summer and fall seasons will prevent Gorgas Steam Plant from being able to operate and meet its NPDES temperature requirements.
In order to provide assurance that water is available for steam condenser use, Alabama Power would be required to design, construct and operate cooling towers at the Gorgas Steam Plant.

After numerous public reports by APC denying that Gorgas was dependent upon Smith Lake the truth was finally told. SLISA has on every occasion stated that Gorgas Steam Plant was the driving force of water releases and feels vindicated with this admission.

Among the mischaracterizations were the accusations by the Warrior –Tombigbee Association. This group with data provided by APC knowingly misrepresented the SLISA Alternative. The Warrior-Tombigbee association led by Charles Haun (Parker Towing) and Bill Satterfield (Lawyer Balsh and Bingham APC’s legal council) made accusations that many of the water works and navigational dependent businesses would have suffered due to lack of water supplied under the SLISA Alternative. This turned out to be completely false and is pointed out in the following paragraph.

Year 2007 was the driest year on record in Central Alabama.
As such, the Corps’ requirement to release 245 cfs for navigation would certainly have applied. Despite this requirement, from Memorial Day through Labor Day, Smith Lake's average discharges averaged 1230 cfs, more than five times the navigational requirement. This left little storage, resulting in APC’s inability to comply with the navigation flow requirement later in the year. Instead of acknowledging this, APC provided its mischaracterization of the SLISA Alternative to the Warrior-Tombigbee WaterwayAssociation.

“With data provided by APC , a preliminary analysis of the SLISA Alternative was performed. It demonstrates that by conserving storage earlier in the summer and fall of 2007, required minimum navigation flows and water for all consumptive downstream withdrawals could have been provided every single day of 2007. Further, the flows during the summer and fall would have been more consistent than those under the APC’s actual and proposed method of operation. Under the SLISA Alternative, although the summer full pool target of 510 feet msl would not have been achieved, at no time would the Smith Lake water elevations have fallen below 502 feet msl.”

This data was based on actual conditions experienced in 2007. The Warrior-Tombigbee accusations were based upon flawed assumptions while the SLISA Alternative upon facts.

We are now awaiting FERC to process both APC's response and SLISA's response and model. FERC at some point in the future will issue another EA which will stipulate the rules and regulations for APC' next license. According to FERC that may be as early as late November 2008 through February 2009.

In closing we would like to thank everyone for their continued support of SLISA.
We have known all along that this was going to be a difficult undertaking. Armed with the facts we are resolved to change Smith Lake for the better. We want to start with stabilizing Lake Levels in a manner that is beneficial not only to the land owners and the public but also to the aquatic wildlife. We are more determined than ever to complete this goal. We ask that you would check back soon to view a complete model of Smith Lake.

Sincerely

Jared Key
President, SLISA