The Enloe Dam has been messing up fish and the Similkameen River since 1906. Since 1959, when its electrical generation capacity was stilled for cost reasons, it has been without economic purpose. It just sits there blocking steelhead and gathering silt.

For thirteen years, the Okanogan Public Utility District (PUD) in North-Central Washington has investigated various options for the dam, including rebuilding its electrical-generating capacity (one option for that included flooding the valley for miles into British Columbia). On November 1, 2018, a study by the design-build firm Max J. Kuney of Spokane submitted a contracted feasibility report, which included a price tag of up to US$70,400,000, for a cost of $150 per mwh, compared to $12 per mwh from the Wells Dam south of Brewster, on the Columbia. Associated costs raise that cost to US87,400,000. On November 19, the PUD voted against re-electrifying the dam. This is great news for a great river. You can read the Okanagan PUD’s statement on the decision here: