BOCC Commissioner Williams: Shortening Corps’ timeline on Albeni Falls gate replacement ‘has the support of the congressional delegates’

By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

The city of Priest River hosted Idaho Gov. Brad Little and members of his cabinet on Aug. 29 for the “Capital for a Day” event, during which attendees discussed the future of Albeni Falls Dam and Lake Pend Oreille’s water levels. 

Bonner County Commissioner Asia Williams attended the event and reported during the Sept. 3 board of county commissioners meeting that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and elected officials are looking to “address the safety and health and wellbeing of our community.”

Williams added that some of Idaho’s top elected officials even support fast-tracking the replacement of faulty spillway gates at the dam, possibly circumventing the Corps’ proposal, which could take upwards of three years to complete.

In addition to generating power and aiding in navigation, recreation, and fish and wildlife conservation, the Albeni Falls Dam controls water flow and manages flood risks in the Pend Oreille basin, which stretches 24,000 square miles throughout North Idaho and western Montana. 

USACE Col. Kate Sanborn visits Albeni Falls Dam near Oldtown to address the gate defects with stakeholders in May 2024. Photo by Ben Olson.

In April 2024, the Corps discovered delamination in the steel of Albeni Falls’ spillway gate No. 3, and ultimately removed the entire gate in May to assess the damages and determine how to repair or replace the gate. That required the dam to lessen its output, resulting in the lake reaching its summer pool level of 2,062.5 feet later than average.

A gantry crane usually moves multiple spillway gates at the same time to release or store water when in working order; however, currently operators are only moving one gate at a time to offset the effects of the faulty steel. 

Each gate is kept either fully open or closed, rather than partially open or closed as was possible in the past, to minimize stress on the metal.

Army Corps officials believe that all 11 gates — which were manufactured in 1955 and had an estimated lifespan of 50 years, meaning they were due to be replaced in 2005 — have the same steel defect and will need to be replaced, rather than repaired.

“At this time, it’s not known exactly how long each gate will take to manufacture,” Corps Public Affairs Specialist Nicole Celestine told the Reader in a Sept. 4 email.

“We anticipate the first gate to arrive on-site in three to five years. Subsequent authorized gates are anticipated to be in place in approximately six-month intervals after the first gate,” she added.

The initial gate replacement will take the longest, as the Corps’ estimate includes the time needed to craft a new design, solicit and award a fabrication contract and actually manufacture the gate. Celestine added that the Corps’ team “is using all tools available to streamline both the design and contracting processes”; however, large steel structures like the gates are difficult and time consuming to create.

“Facilities with the expertise and space capacity to manufacture hydraulic steel structures of this size are limited. This is a large piece of fabricated steel that has stringent structural engineering requirements that must be met during the fabrication process before being placed in service,” said Celestine.

In the meantime, the Corps is researching the use of fiber-reinforced polymer as a temporary solution to strengthen gate No. 3 and has secured funding from Bonneville Power Administration for a new gate design and fabrication contract.

“[Members of the governor’s cabinet] very clearly advocated that the timeline of [the Corps] was way too long,” said Williams, relaying the Aug. 29 discussion.

“So the congressional delegation is open to having a dialogue with the Army Corps saying … ‘Why are we not just fixing it all versus going [one] gate at a time?” she added.

Idaho’s congressional delegation consists of Republican U.S. Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, and Reps. Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson.

However, Williams said, “It didn’t sound like the issue was funding.” 

Rather, she said, “It actually sounded like it might more be the timeline of [the Corps],” and the question to the feds would be, “is this really their timeline versus a funding issue? Because 90% of that funding appears to look like it’s already been identified through Bonneville [Power Administration].”

State, Bonner County and local city elected officials — including District 1A Rep. Mark Sauter, R-Sandpoint, attended the Priest River event to stress how important Lake Pend Oreille is to the county’s residents and economy. 

According to Williams, Sauter previously spoke to private engineering contractors in Boise to see if outsourcing could expedite the gate replacement process — an idea that she said, “has the support of the congressional delegates as well.”

For an additional Albeni Falls update from Rep. Sauter, see Page 9.

Celestine said that the Corps will be the agency responsible for finalizing the design for the gates; however, “At this time, it is not known who the contractor will be. It is possible for USACE to partner with other entities but this is not the direction USACE is going at this time.”

The Corps intends to host another round of public meetings in the fall to keep locals informed, though the dates and locations have yet to be determined. According to Williams, they will also meet with elected officials in the future to discuss the proposed timeline.

“The congressional delegation is going to have a discussion with [the Corps],” said Williams. “They’re going to do another small review with the same — similar — people that were present [in Priest River], which was inclusive of the mayors in the area, to see if we can’t push to go faster.”