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September 7th, 2004

SKAGIT COUNTY AND PUGET SOUND ENERGY AGREE TO WORK TOGETHER FOR MORE FLOOD STORAGE

SKAGIT COUNTY – The Skagit County Commissioners signed a Memorandum of Understanding today with officials of Puget Sound Energy(PSE) agreeing to work together to include significant additional flood storage in the Baker River Hydro Electric Project as part of the Federal Emergency Regulatory Commission (FERC) re-licensing process.

Both PSE and Skagit County acknowledged that a final agreement between them has to pass muster with several local, state and federal agencies. “This agreement calls for a significant increase of storage behind the Lower Baker and Upper Baker dams as well as new protocol for reservoir draw down when a flood event is imminent,” said Commissioner Ken Dahlstedt.

“The recent October Flood was just another wake up call for a major disaster waiting to happen,” said Dahlstedt. “We found out just how important storage is. It’s great PSE is willing to work with us to prevent loss of life and limb and millions of dollars of property damage.”

“We appreciate the hard work of our Public Works department and the folks at PSE that was necessary to come to this agreement,” said Commissioner Ted Anderson. “This agreement stands to benefit many people for a long time.”

Additional flood storage is a critical part of a strategy to provide long-term flood protection in the Skagit Valley. As part of the Skagit River Flood Prevention/Salmon Restoration Project, Skagit County has identified the following components of a successful project:

• Additional storage and operational changes in the Baker and Skagit river systems
• Increase conveyance and eliminate major flood impediments through the four-bridge corridor between Burlington and Mount Vernon
• Rehabilitate and redesign the levee system providing flood protection and enhancing habitat for fish and wildlife
• Establish emergency overflow route(s) for large flood events.

“We’re sensitive to the needs of all the stakeholders at the table for this FERC license. We think we can come to an agreement that will meet their concerns while at the same time provide significant flood control,” said Dahlstedt.

For further information, contact: Dan Berentson, 360-419-3461