Decommissioning the Leaburg Hydroelectric Project FAQ

A: The primary constraint to the valley residents during the decommissioning work will be related to increased construction traffic and periodic traffic-controlled work zones and minor detours where applicable. 

• The work will be spread over several years, but there will likely be several work zones during each summer construction season that may cause delays.  
• Typical traffic control standards and best practices put forth by ODOT will be used to limit impacts to the travelling public as much as possible. 
• The impacts to valley residents will depend on their location relative to the work, but the work will progressively move and change locations along the canal during the decommissioning work. 
• EWEB staff will be diligent about ensuring and enforcing controllable construction nuisance issues such as air-born dust, erosion run-off and work hours.  

Dam removal will have impacts to river/lake recreation due to likely diversions, lake dewatering and containment zones. Since the area immediately adjacent to the operating dam is currently unsafe for recreation, a similar safety zone will be in place during construction activities, so the impacts will likely be negligible for river recreators, and most impactful for lake recreators. 

Some positive impacts may include the increased customers to local businesses from the staff/crews needed to perform the work, as well as potential opportunity for local residents and business owners to gain employment or contract work assisting with the decommissioning effort. 

A: Although some dams on the McKenzie do provide storage for flood control (i.e. those operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE): Cougar and Blue River reservoirs), the Leaburg Project is a run-of-the-river facility, meaning that the water that flows into the facilities is immediately released downstream. Leaburg Lake doesn't provide storage capacity, so removing the dam would not have a measurable effect on downstream water levels. 

A: A few years ago, EWEB purchased a canal-neighboring property with a manufactured home in order to improve access to a portion of the canal embankment needing maintenance work. We donated that home to a Holiday Farm Fire survivor and successfully moved it to their property.

In April of 2022, EWEB entered into purchase agreements on two additional properties along the canal that became available on the real estate market. Knowing that we're going to need to do major work on the canal at those locations, we decided to take advantage of the property sales to improve access and available space for future construction activities. We will be developing property management plans for the parcels that we're purchasing and will ensure that the structures and land are well maintained. 

A: EWEB will not pursue purchase of additional properties until we determine more details on the decommissioning plan for the Leaburg Project. There may be properties that could provide significant value in a variety of potential canal modification scenarios that EWEB will opportunistically consider purchasing if they become available for sale. 

A: EWEB was able to assist people with water rights by supplying water from the canal when we were in operation. We are no longer able to maintain this assistance with the canal in its current situation. We are developing information on potential alternatives that may be of interest to impacted water right holders. If interested, please reach out to EWEB at LeaburgInfo@eweb.org to discuss your individual situation.