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Engineers warn fish-passage requirements could drive remediation costs much higher
Summary
Jacobs told Newport council that state fish-passage rules or requirements could add tens of millions to remediation work at Big Creek, potentially nearly matching or exceeding remediation costs for the dams themselves and making state consultation essential to cost certainty.
Engineers said that in several of the remediation and new-dam alternatives, fish-passage work — either built on-site or required via modern standards — is a major cost driver. "If you had to deal with this passage itself, the fish passage cost is about 48,000,000," Nathan McCullough of Jacobs Engineering Group said during the April 6 work session, illustrating how fish requirements can change overall project economics.
McCullough outlined options that could reduce the fish-passage burden, including waivers, off-site mitigation, or stream restoration if a dam is removed, but he emphasized none of those paths are guaranteed. Councilors and staff noted HDR had started mitigation research but paused, and Jacobs said confirmation from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) would be critical to refine cost estimates and the feasibility of mitigation strategies. The city will pursue state consultations and additional study as part of the concept-phase work.
