Boyne Mountain seeks license to continue operation of hydro dam
BOYNE FALLS — As Boyne Mountain Resort explores solar power in its mission to achieve net zero emissions by 2030, it is also working on renewing its permit to operate the Boyne River Hydroelectric Dam in Boyne Falls, but is facing issues from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
On Jan. 31, 2020, Boyne USA filed an application with FERC to continue operation of the dam for the next 30 to 40 years. The dam has been operating under its current license for more than 40 years.
The primary issues concerning FERC are water quality and public access.
More:Dam washout on Boyne River prompts concerns
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Boyne USA, the company that owns Boyne Mountain, acquired the hydroelectric dam on Dam Road in 1962 from Consumers Energy and brought it back into operation in 1980. It was originally constructed in 1909 and was partially rebuilt in 1929, according to Director of Mountain Operations Tyler Prange.
The dam produces about 660 megawatt-hour per year, approximately 8 percent of the resort’s energy needs, according to an environmental assessment conducted by FERC in June 2022.
On July 31, 2022, Boyne USA sent a letter with a construction schedule for streambank remediation and protection/intake embankment toe protection, left embankment downstream slope remediation, emergency spillway repairs and improvements, left embankment upstream slope remediation and intake channel concrete repair. All of these were projects FERC is requiring Boyne USA to complete.
The schedule was submitted in response to a letter from FERC dated June 21, 2022, informing the company that their failure to address dam safety directives issued by the Commission’s Chicago Regional Engineer would result in Boyne USA remaining in noncompliance. It also stated that the issue had been referred to FERC’s Division of Hydropower Administration and Compliance for “possible action.”
According to the same letter, failure to address the issue could result in a daily fine per issue, until it is resolved, an order to stop generating energy at the dam, a revoked license or FERC could dismiss Boyne’s pending application for a renewed license.
According to Patrick Ertel, senior resource analyst for the habitat management unit in the fisheries division of the Department of Natural Resources, revoking a license is an uncommon action for FERC to take.
“It would be extreme. In my tenure in Michigan, both at the state and otherwise, I've seen one and that was Edenville in 2019, which failed in 2020,” Ertel said.
The DNR, as well as organizations like Trout Unlimited, have concerns over erosion of the river’s left embankment, primarily upstream, but erosion was identified downstream as well. While erosion is a natural process for rivers, it can be accelerated by human activity, leading to sediment in the water or possible dam failure.
“If this dam were to fail, the concern ecologically would be that (the) sediment would mobilize and then inundate the habitat of the Boyne River receiving waters. That interstitial space is where most of our fish are going to be,” Ertel said.
“And that's also where a large percentage of macro invertebrates are growing and forming that second tier of the food chain. So you take something that is very diverse, three dimensionally in terms of gravel and cobble sticks and all that, then you just bury it and it becomes really an ecological desert.”
The Boyne River experienced a dam failure in 2019, when an upstream dam washed out on March 15, sending “…large chunks of silt and sediment” downstream and leading to more erosion of the river’s banks.
The Millpond Dam was not owned by Boyne USA.
Water quality
According to FERC, all surface waters in Michigan are designated for agriculture, navigation, industrial water supply, warmwater fishery, other indigenous aquatic life and wildlife, fish consumption and partial body contact recreation. Specific bodies of water may have other uses as well.
The Boyne River is a designated trout stream and must meet quality standards outlined in the environmental assessment report including a minimum of 7 milligram per liter of dissolved oxygen and conditions suitable for coldwater fish.
A water quality study conducted by Boyne USA from June 2018 through May 2019 found no issues with the levels of dissolved oxygen in the river,
The dam must not raise the water temperature more than two degrees fahrenheit above its natural temperature or go beyond monthly temperatures laid out by FERC.
January: 38° F
February: 38° F
March: 43° F
April: 54° F
May: 65° F
June: 68° F
July: 68° F
August: 68° F
September: 63° F
October: 56° F
November: 48° F
December: 40° F
Water temperature has been one of the biggest issues surrounding the dam and the river’s water quality.
Boyne USA conducted a water quality study from June 2018 through May 2019 and found the upstream water temperature was over the state standard for a total of 77 hours in June, July and August of 2018. From June 29 to July 7 in 2018, the average water temperature was 71.8° F.
While the difference between that and the state standard seems small, slight fluctuations in temperature can have a devastating impact on the ecosystem, especially fish species that rely on cold waters.
Public Access
While the area downstream of the dam is open to public use, the area surrounding the reservoir above the dam is private property owned by Boyne USA.
In this area is a private boat launch that Boyne restricts access to, allowing private sportfishing outfitters to use the launch and the access road leading to it.
The Michigan DNR, the U.S. Department of Interior and the Michigan Hydro Relicensing Coalition (HRC) recommend that public access be provided to the project reservoir. In the assessment, it states that Boyne should construct a fishing pier and launch for kayaks and canoes, as well as parking and public bathrooms.
The assessment said, “Michigan HRC states that maintaining the status quo by continuing to restrict 34 public access to the project reservoir represents privatization of public recreation opportunities at a Commission-licensed project.”
The issue of the reservoir being made public is one of the issues Boyne USA has pushed back on the hardest. They argue that there is little public interest in the land due to the water being shallow and most of the fish being small, warmwater species.
FERC states in the assessment that Boyne USA has provided no data to support this and that Boyne Outfitters contradicts this statement by charging a fee for private, guided fishing trips on the reservoir. The outfitter’s website states that the reservoir is, “the best private access water Northern Michigan has to offer.” Additionally, the small reservoir is scenic and a good alternative to the larger bodies of water nearby, like Lake Charlevoix.
The DNR also responded to this statement by saying it has regularly issued permits to stock the reservoir with brooke trout and steelhead trout since 2013.
Prange said that Boyne USA is concerned for the safety of people who go near the reservoir.
“There is a safety issue involved in that. To access that site, you have to navigate through the emergency spillway, so there is a safety issue there,” Prange said. “And, you know, the project boundary is actually pretty small around there, but a good chunk of all that land surrounding the facility itself is all Boyne Mountain Resort’s property. It's a private property thing really at the end of the day, it's just that whole area is surrounded by Boyne private property and we'd like to keep it that way if we can.”
Proposed Measures
While FERC is the entity responsible for approving Boyne USA’s application for license renewal, it is not the only one that offered comments and suggestions. The Michigan Hydro Relicensing Coalition, Trout Unlimited, DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy are some of the other entities that provided comments on the issue.
Some of the suggested measures made by these entities were reimbursing the state for stocking fish downstream of the powerhouse, adding parking, sanitation facilities, road improvements, boat launch, fishing pie and ADA amenities to enhance public fisheries downstream, dam removal and river restoration at Millpond Dam, potential construction of a fishway, and pre-funding of project retirement.
Prange refuted some of these suggestions, primarily the removal of Millpond Dam and allowing public access near the structure.
“(Millpond is) not our facility. Plain and simple. It's owned by the township. For us, it’s why is this structure something that we should be concerned (about) or spend our money on as it really has little to no effect on our structure,” Prange said.
“We push back because it's a financial burden, the facility doesn't produce a lot. So to keep the facility viable, invest into it, and then have extra costs associated to it makes the facility financially unviable. So that's a lot of the reason why, is this facility saves us ‘X’ amount of money and once you cross a certain threshold on an annual basis, it's just incredibly expensive. So at that point, then it's like well, is the project worth it?”
On Aug. 16, FERC held a teleconference meeting to resolve inconsistencies between recommendations made in comments. Included in the discussion was documenting inflow to and discharge from the project, providing annual financial compensation to Michigan DNR to offset the annual costs to stock fish downstream of the project, monitoring for known and emerging invasive species and implement a treatment plan, implementing wildlife management plans that enhances biodiversity, increases waterfowl production and benefits listed species at the project, as well as project costs, the water quality certification, filing additional information and the next steps in the licensing process.
Out of the issues discussed, only one was resolved during the meeting: Documenting inflow to and discharge from the project as part of a compliance monitoring plan by using an automatic electronic water level sensor that would continually monitor water levels and transmit the data directly to Boyne USA.
This was recommended after a FERC investigation found that Boyne USA’s alarm system that would alert them when water levels were too high or too low was switched off.
The same investigation reviewed circle charts provided by Boyne and found that the paper had not been changed to record reservoir elevation data. There was also no date written down to indicate when the recording started.
Other issues were discussed but not resolved and will be revisited by FERC staff.
Whether Boyne USA’s application will be approved has yet to be decided. Assuming Boyne addresses the issues laid out in the assessment and continues to comply with the compliance measures outlined by FERC, the Boyne Hydrodam should continue to provide energy to Boyne Mountain Resort for the next 40 years.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Boyne hydro dam seeks to renew operation license
