Upstream dam flooding and altered downstream flows would have destroyed dozens of miles of river habitat for federally protected narrow-headed and Mexican garter snakes, southwestern willow flycatchers, and fish species such as loach minnows and spikedace.
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A developer notified federal regulators today that it has abandoned plans
for a 200-foot-tall dam along a remote, biodiverse stretch of the San
Francisco River at the Arizona-New Mexico border.
The San Francisco River Pumped Storage Project, proposed within protected
areas of two national forests, would have destroyed dozens of miles of river
habitat for five federally endangered species. In 2020 conservation groups
and business leaders commented on and intervened in Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission proceedings to stop the project.
“It’s a good day for the spectacular cradle of biodiversity that is the San
Francisco River,” said Taylor McKinnon with the Center for Biological
Diversity. “This project faced a hellish legal fight and should’ve never
seen the light of day. The San Francisco River needs permanent federal
protection.”
The project would have pumped water from a new reservoir on the San
Francisco River to a second one atop the adjacent canyon rim, generating
electricity and revenue from downhill return flows when electricity prices
are higher. It would have industrialized national forest roadless areas,
wilderness study areas and river reaches eligible for the National Wild and
Scenic Rivers system. Upstream dam flooding and altered downstream flows
would have destroyed dozens of miles of river habitat for federally
protected narrow-headed and Mexican garter snakes, southwestern willow
flycatchers, and fish species such as loach minnows and spikedace.
The same developer, Pumped Hydro Storage, has also shelved plans for the
Indian Spring Pumped Storage Project in Maricopa County.
However, in both filings with the commission today, the company doubled down
on plans to dam and pump groundwater in a side canyon to the Little Colorado
River, just upstream from Grand Canyon National Park — an area of deep
cultural importance to the Hopi, Navajo, and other Tribes.
The Big Canyon pumped storage project proposes large-scale groundwater
pumping that could deplete Blue Springs, the Little Colorado River’s only
source of year-round surface water immediately upstream from Grand Canyon
National Park. That part of the river harbors the largest remaining
population of endangered humpback chub, whose wellbeing is central to the
species’ survival and recovery.
The Center for Biological Diversity has intervened in federal proceedings to
protect the fish and stop the project.
“This disastrous plan threatens irreversible damage to the Little Colorado
River and fast-tracks the extinction of humpback chub,” said McKinnon. “We
won’t rest until this proposal is dead.”