Auger Falls dam

Representing Idaho Conservation League, we successfully used the public trust doctrine to block the proposed Auger Falls dams on the mid-Snake River near the city of Twin Falls.  After federal agencies had issued permits for the dam, the Idaho State Land Board voted -- after a public hearing which voiced strong opposition to another dam on the mid-Snake -- to deny a submerged lands easement.  That ruling was upheld in state district court.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) subsequently acted to also deny a federal license, which the dam developer (Symbiotics Inc) challenged in federal court.  We intervened for IRU, and won a 10th Circuit ruling affirming FERC's denial of the federal permit.  See Symbiotics v. FERC, 110 Fed Apdx 76, 2004 WL 2095615 (10th Cir. 2004). 

As a result, Auger Falls remains a wild, free-flowing stretch of the mid-Snake River!