Keowee-Toxaway FERC Relicensing Project

The Keowee-Toxaway project (consisting of Lake Keowee, Lake Jocassee, and their associated power generation facilities) is the largest Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-regulated reservoir system in the Upstate. 

Together, these reservoirs provide recreational opportunities, drinking water supplies, power generation ability, and a significant number of lakeshore home sites. The management of these reservoirs and their shorelines, therefore, has significant implications on quality of life and conservation across the Upstate.

Lake Jocassee

The current FERC relicensing process required of Duke Energy will result in a license that dictates how these reservoirs will be operated for the next 50 years.  This process is the first time Duke Energy has been required to re-permit the Keowee-Toxaway project since the creation of the US EPA and the passage of the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and other significant environmental laws and regulations.

Upstate Forever’s participation in the relicensing process allows us a unique opportunity to shape the future of water resource management in the Upstate. The license is required to address a number of criteria – many of which Upstate Forever have been working on since our inception.  The criteria that the license must address include:

• Aquatics
• Cultural Resources
• Shoreline Management
• Recreational Usage
• Wildlife and Botanical
• Water Quality
• Water Quantity and Operations

The agreements reached between Duke Energy, state and federal agencies, and conservation groups like Upstate Forever through the FERC relicensing process will have widespread implications for the future of the Upstate. Ensuring that the Keowee-Toxaway project balances the needs of power generation with recreational opportunities, drinking water supply and quality, wildlife management, and lakeshore management and land use decisions will greatly affect the quality of life and shape growth and development in our region. 

Upstate Forever has identified a number of focus areas for the relicensing of the Keowee-Toxaway project, including the following:

• Development of additional studies and data collection to ensure all of the appropriate effects of the reservoirs and their operation are examined
• Creation of a water quality model that allows for the examination of how land use changes will affect water quality in the lakes
• Linking of the comprehensive plans and land use decisions of Oconee and Pickens Counties to the relicensing process to ensure that the plans and license complement rather than contradict one another
• Addressing the modification of Oconee Nuclear Station to provide greater lake level flexibility
• Ensuring that Duke has complied with all initial license components before receiving a new license. This includes providing significant amount of conservation lands for public recreation.

For more detail, see Upstate Forever’s comments to Duke on the preliminary application document.

Additional Information & Resources

• Duke Studies Savannah River's Supply Limits
  Anderson Independent Mail, September 14, 2011