SAN ANDREAS, CA — Calaveras County Water District (CCWD) this week filed a Pre-Application Document (PAD) and Notice of Intent to Relicense (NOI) its North Fork Stanislaus River Hydroelectric Project. The documents filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) mark an important early milestone in the relicensing process.

The NorthFork Project’s major features include New Spicer Meadow Reservoir and Powerhouse, McKays Point Reservoir, and the Collierville Tunnel and Powerhouse. The Project is CCWD’s largest source of water supply and has 258 MW of hydroelectric capacity.

“Generations of Calaveras County residents have benefitted from the North Fork Project and CCWD is 100 percent committed to ensuring the Project benefits extend to the generations to come,” said Jack Garamendi, CCWD Board President.

The filing initiates the early stages of the federal relicensing process for the hydroelectric project, which is owned by CCWD and operated in collaboration with the Northern California Power Agency. CCWD’s current 50-year license was issued by FERC in 1982 and expires on January 31, 2032. The relicensing process reevaluates the Project’s operations and its environmental, cultural, and recreational impacts and benefits.

“It would be difficult to overstate how important the North Fork Stanislaus Project is for Calaveras County. We are incredibly fortunate that the people of Calaveras County had the foresight back in 1946 to recognize the Project’s potential and entrust CCWD to bring the Project to fruition,” said Michael Minkler, General Manager of CCWD. "Thanks to the incredible work of people like Steve Felte and Ray Nielsen, among others, CCWD delivered on the promise to protect our water supply and harness its potential to generate renewable energy. Our predecessors did the hard work of licensing and building the Project and now it’s our responsibility to navigate relicensing. Filing the PAD and NOI is the first major step in a long journey, but we will see it through to a successful conclusion.”

The PAD provides FERC and interested parties with a comprehensive overview of the Project and the environmental, cultural, recreational, and natural resources associated with it. The document serves as a foundation for the relicensing process by identifying key information and resource considerations relevant to the development of a new license application.

The North Fork Stanislaus River Hydroelectric Project is located on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and includes facilities within the North Fork Stanislaus River and Stanislaus River watersheds in Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Alpine counties. Portions of the project are located on federal lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Reclamation

Press Release link below:

North Fork Stanislaus River Hydroelectric Project PAD Press Release.pdf

The PAD is available for public review at the link below:

https://www.ccwd.org/files/3322e61a2/04_P-2409_PAD_N.F.+Stan+FERC+Relicensing.pdf