Sen. Reid wants to postpone Weber Dam construction; fears fish

Reid, D-Nev., said he intends to amend the Interior Department's budget to postpone the reconstruction of Weber Dam. He said no action should be taken until environmental assessments are completed and alternatives are fully studied.

"I'm not sure it's right to rebuild the dam, especially without making provisions for the fish," said Reid, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee.

"If we rebuild that dam, the first thing we'll have to do is tear it down or make an expensive addition to it," he said.

Critics say the BIA's construction plans are flawed because they do not include a fish ladder to allow fish to migrate past the dam.

The 43-foot-tall, earth-fill dam is located on the Walker River Paiute Indian Reservation 16 miles upstream from Walker Lake. It provides irrigation water to reservation farmers.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs wanted to rebuild the 65-year-old dam this summer at a cost of about $10 million because water is seeping out of the dam and it sits on an earthquake fault.

BIA officials said they are surprised that Reid is intervening. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt traveled to the area in February and endorsed the plan to rebuild the leaky structure.

The agency is in the process of completing a written response to a draft biological opinion the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service submitted two months ago raising concerns about the dam's impacts on the environment.

"We're trying to work with the Fish and Wildlife Service and with Sen. Reid's people and what will come of that, we're not sure," BIA engineer Ken Clouser said.

The BIA now hopes to rebuild the dam next spring, he said. In the meantime, the agency is working on operating criteria for the dam and reservoir to minimize danger to downstream residents this coming winter.

About 1,500 people live below the dam in the flood plain, Clouser said. The tribe has an alarm system to warn them if the dam breaks. However, somebody recently vandalized it and it's out of order, he said.

"One thing we've tried to stress to everybody, the longer this goes on, the longer the risk and period of jeopardy exists for the people who live below that dam," Clouser said. "We hope to get these issues resolved."

Jon McMasters, a member of the tribal council, said the tribe is not yet ready to comment.

A group of Mineral County residents who want to protect the lake environment is praising Reid's efforts.

The lake has dropped 127 feet since the turn of the century because of upstream diversions for agriculture and the drought.

The lake lost its native Lahontan cutthrout trout population shortly after Weber Dam was completed. The fish spawn in fresh water and must move from the lake up the river to lay their eggs.

Today the only cutthroat trout in Walker Lake are those raised in hatcheries. During the recent drought, the lake came within several years of losing its ability to support even these fish because of rising levels of dissolved salts and minerals in the water.

"One of our long-range goals, assuming we are successful in getting the lake stabilized, would be to re-establish conditions where the cutthroat could naturally spawn again," said Lou Thompson, president of the Walker Lake Working Group. "They can't do that with a dam blocking the river at that point."

Clouser said the BIA does not oppose the idea of a fish ladder, but lacks the money to build one.

The BIA's Safety of Dams program considers fish ladders an "enhancement" and won't pay for it, he said. Depending on the design, it would cost between $430,000 and $2.1 million to build a fish ladder at Weber Dam.

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