State environmental regulators have granted a key permit necessary for PacifiCorp to remove Condit Dam from the White Salmon River.
The state Department of Ecology has issued a water quality certification permit, the agency announced Tuesday. The certification was required to ensure water quality standards are met during dam removal and subsequent habitat restoration.
PacifiCorp also needs Clean Water Act certification from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and an official license surrender order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The dam would come out next October.
In 1999, PacifiCorp reached an agreement with environmental groups, government agencies and the Yakama Nation to remove the dam.
PacifiCorp has estimated the removal will cost $28 million. The company opted for pulling the dam after balking at the even-higher cost of retrofitting it with fish ladders, which federal officials would have required to grant a renewed operating permit.
