Tribes prepare to take over Kerr Dam in 2015
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The Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes are preparing to take over Kerr Dam from PPL Montana in 2015. Currently the tribes are co-licensers with PPL Montana with the exclusive rights to purchase the dam in 4 years. According to CSKT Energy Director Brian Lipscomb, this is a fast timeline to get everything completed, which includes hiring and training new employees and negotiating the price of purchase from PPL Montana. Right now the purchasing price is being assessed and verified from 20 different accounts.
Lipscomb, who is a tribal member, grew up in St. Ignatius and returned home as the energy director last year. A graduate of Montana State University, Lipscomb spent eight years as executive director of the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority in Portland, Ore.
“The purchase of Kerr Dam is important because it sits on a cultural site and on tribal land,” Lipscomb said. “It is also an opportunity to regain those resources and to add an economic boost to the area.”
The tribes recently received a grant from the Department of Energy for $475,000, which will help support the start up cost of hiring staff. A telemarketing coordinator and engineer position need to be filled immediately in addition to 12 to 18 highly skilled positions. PPL will provide training for all the new positions.
Kerr Dam is a three-unit hydroelectric plant on the Flathead River. It has the total generating capacity of 194 megawatts; one megawatt can supply the average energy needs of 750 households. It began operation in 1938 and is 541 feet long, 205 feet high and has a storage capacity of 1.2 million acre-feet.
Flathead Lake is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi and is 28 miles long, 15 miles wide and more than 300 feet deep.
“Since the construction of Kerr Dam in 1934 generations of tribal leaders strived for the dam’s acquisition,” CSKT Council Chairman E.T. “Bud” Moran said.
“The return of the complex means a return to the Tribes’ control over primary homeland resources, which already include Flathead Lake and the Lower Flathead River. These resources will generate significant economic contributions for decades.”
