EWEB approves contract with firm behind Klamath River Renewal Program to decommission Leaburg Hydroelectric Project
Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) Commissioners approved a ten-year, $18.5M contract with McMillen, Inc. to support efforts to decommission the Leaburg Hydroelectric Project on the McKenzie River at their monthly board meeting on Tuesday night.
McMillen rose to the top of a competitive public purchasing process to win the contract. The EWEB team leading the Leaburg Decommissioning Action Plan attributed McMillen’s high-scoring proposal to its team’s specific experience with decommissioning hydropower projects overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
“We are excited to bring on such a knowledgeable team to help us achieve our goal of decommissioning the Leaburg Hydroelectric Project,” said Karen Kelley, EWEB Chief Operations Officer. “With their experience on dozens of projects, and especially coming off of their success completing the Klamath decommissioning, we anticipate McMillen will find ways to assist us in the most cost effective, timely, and responsible way.”
McMillen served as the Owner’s Representative and Construction Manager on the Klamath River Restoration Project, which involved removing four dams on the Klamath River, restoring stretches of the river and collaborating between federal agencies, Oregon and California authorities, and several Indigenous Tribes.
In their role, McMillen provided direct oversight and facilitation of various project aspects, including design, permitting and regulatory process, agency and tribe coordination, stakeholder coordination, construction, dam demolition, and habitat restoration services on behalf of Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC).
The nation’s largest-ever dam decommissioning, McMillen helped KRRC deliver on the challenge of keeping the $500M, fourteen-year project on budget and on-time.
“I personally am incredibly excited to put forth McMillen for this work. McMillen is a very well suited firm for this process. They have extensive decommissioning experience nationwide, including a primary role in the decommissioning of the Klamath dams, to great success,” Generation Manager Lisa Krentz said at Tuesday’s Board Meeting. “They're highly regarded throughout the industry. They have absolutely stellar recommendations from those who have worked with them. It is, again, a sizable contract and a long contract. But I couldn't be more pleased with the results.”
Decommissioning the Leaburg Hydroelectric Project will be a far smaller endeavor than the Klamath River Renewal Program.
EWEB Commissioners voted to decommission the project in 2023 following a triple bottom line evaluation that revealed the regulatory risk and costs to restore the project to service in accordance with required dam safety and design standards would far outweigh the project’s generation benefits.
With McMillen on board, EWEB will further investigate the impacts decommissioning the project would bring to the McKenzie River and the local community, including identifying information gaps. Key information gaps include how to remove sediment trapped behind the dam, how to restore the river through the project area and how its flow could change, and how EWEB can work with neighbors to reduce impacts to the local economy, recreation, and transportation networks.
McMillen will also help manage projects to reduce near-term risks the Leaburg Project may pose in its current state, navigate the FERC approval process, advance conceptual designs, and work with stakeholders to understand constraints and concerns.
EWEB is already working with Lane County Public Works and the engineering firm DOWL to resolve the problem of removing the bridge on top of Leaburg Dam. EWEB sent letters to 300 project neighbors in September advising about the issue and asking for information about the local terrain and traffic patterns.
EWEB plans to begin on-the-ground decommissioning work by 2032. For more information about the Leaburg Decommissioning Action Plan, please go to eweb.org/leaburgcanal.
