Department of Ecology v. Public Utility District No. 1

This case arises as a result of plans of the City of Tacoma and the Jefferson County Public Utility District (hereinafter Tacoma) to build a hydroelectric facility on the Dosewallips River. Federal law requires Tacoma to obtain a certificate from the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) before beginning construction. Ecology granted the certificate but conditioned it upon Tacoma maintaining a certain minimum streamflow in the affected portion of the river. Tacoma argues that federal law preempts Ecology from setting this streamflow requirement, and that Ecology acted outside its…