The operators of the Electron Dam on the Puyallup River are under court order to stop killing endangered fish. A settlement reached on Friday with a coalition of conservation groups prevents the project from re-starting unless or until they have addressed illegal impacts to federally-protected native species.
The Electron Dam project became notorious in August 2020, after a whistleblower who worked at the dam site shared video on Facebook, showing how operators tried to line the riverbed with old Astroturf while they worked on mandated improvements.
The highly toxic crumb rubber showed up all over the riverbed and washed more than 40 miles downstream, all the way to Commencement Bay.
But even before that fiasco shut the dam down, it was known to be a fish killer – because of the way it diverted water into a forebay, taking endangered fish with it. Chinook, bull trout and steelhead would get trapped and killed by predators or fatally injured by powerhouse turbines.
The settlement with conservation groups led by American Whitewater requires the dam operators to address these issues and work with the groups on a habitat conservation plan.
A separate lawsuit brought by the Puyallup Tribe over the same issues is still pending.
The Tribe is also a party to a suit brought by the United States and others challenging Electron’s unlawful placement of artificial turf in the river bed. The state of Washington filed a criminal indictment against the project owner, Thom Fischer, for those actions.
