CLALLAM: Questions raised over Morse Creek power plant

PORT ANGELES — A city plan to restart a small hydroelectric plant on Morse Creek has raised questions about how it might affect salmon and other fish in the stream.

Port Angeles sees restarting the project as a boon because it enables the city to avoid expensive maintenance costs.

But environmentalists like Eloise Kailin, head of Protect the Peninsula’s Future, worry that streamflow limits set when the project was licensed in the mid-1980s might not provide enough water to protect threatened fish.

In 1997, Port Angeles was close to closing the plant. With maintenance expenses high and power prices low, the city estimated it would lose $20,000 a year on the project.

The City Council approved giving up the federal license to the dam.

But with electricity costs increasing more than tenfold over the past year, a company that specializes in small hydroelectric operations approached the city about leasing the Morse Creek plant.

For the complete story see Wednesday’s Peninsula Daily News, on sale in Clallam County.

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KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
June Ward, 10, examines a wooden paddle she is decorating as her father, Jack Ward of Port Angeles, works on his own paddle during a craft-making session on Friday at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center in Port Angeles. The paddles are among the thousands of gifts being created for participants in the 2025 Tribal Canoe Journey, hosted this year by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. The event begins with the landing of dozens of native canoes at the mouth of the Elwha River on July 31 and continues with five days of celebration on the Lower Elwha reservation west of Port Angeles. As many as 10,000 indigenous peoples are expected to take part. The public is invited to help with giftmaking sessions, scheduled daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Heritage Center.
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