The Northwest Power and Conservation Council's economic advisers will evaluate the possible economic and biological costs faced by the federal Columbia-Snake river hydro system and fish and wildlife if non-native quagga and/or zebra mussels invade the basin.

The task for the Independent Economic Advisory Board was approved Wednesday by the Council with the budget for the analysis set at $19,500.

Mussels pose ecological problems by impacting aquatic biodiversity and water quality and reducing food sources for native mussels, fish larvae, and zooplankton. The invasive mussels reproduce quickly and can within a year or two clog water intake and delivery pipes, foul dam intake gates and pipes, and adhere to boats, pilings, and most hard and some soft substrates. That can impact water delivery systems, fire protection, and irrigation systems and hydro production.

"Costs of established mussel colonies include control and containment costs, and damage costs," the IEAB task description says. "In general, pest infestations result in both types of costs.

"Damage costs are usually lost use costs such as loss of power generation and productive fish habitat, and the lost use of hatchery facilities, water diversion facilities, and monitoring equipment," the IEAB document says. "The costs of lost habitat and reduced fish survival might be estimated by use of alternative costs to restore fish survival or replace damaged habitat.

"The costs, effectiveness and side-effects of various control and containment strategies will be summarized.

"The IEAB will also scope the potential costs and effectiveness of programs intended to avoid or delay establishment of mussels in the Basin."

The IEAB plans to produce draft and final reports on the topic. April 30 is the target date for completion of the draft.

Meanwhile, the Council intends to consider the longer term future of the eight-member advisory group. The NPCC has decided the time is ripe is reassess, and maybe redefine, the role of the IEAB in regional processes.

There has been no "official" IEAB since its charter lapsed this past June. Despite that fact, the economists involved have individual contracts and $100,000 is earmarked in the Council's annual Fish and Wildlife Division budget for IEAB tasks.

The IEAB was created by the Council in 1996 to help with its charge of assuring that fish and wildlife measures picked for funding under the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program are as cost-effective as possible. The NPCC's fish and wildlife program is funded by the Bonneville Power Administration as mitigation for hydro system impacts on fish and wildlife.

The invasive mussel risk-cost analysis was deemed as important work by all eight Council members. But Oregon's representatives argued Wednesday that the time may not be right to commission the work, if it was indeed appropriate for the IEAB to do the analysis at all.

The IEAB no longer has a charter outlining its duties, and past charters focused the economic panel on fish and wildlife projects, Oregon Councilor Joan Dukes said.

"I'm not going to object to the project, but I'm going to object to the money coming from the fish and wildlife budget when it's mainly a power issue," Dukes said. The NPCC's budget is split between a power division and a fish and wildlife division, as well as executive, administrative, legal and public affairs divisions.

Washington Councilor Tom Karier pointed out that the mussels have the potential to damage the hydro system and ongoing efforts to boost fish and wildlife populations.

"There's value added for both power and fish and wildlife," Councilor Dick Wallace, also of Washington, said.

Oregon Council member Melinda Eden said that a decision on the IEAB task should be postponed. A discussion of the future role of the IEAB is scheduled for the Council's February meeting.

"What we've got here is the cart before the horse," she said. The discussion of the IEAB's role has been on the back burner over the past year while the Council focused on the nearly all-consuming task of developing its Sixth Power Plan. Final approval of the power plan is expected next month.

The IEAB issue arose at a time when little economic work was being identified that would bring results of value to the Council, according to Tony Grover, Fish and Wildlife Division director. In 2008 during the beginnings of the Council's fish and wildlife program amendment process staff recommended that the IEAB be dissolved. That met with a mixed reaction from Council members so it was decided to assess the situation and perhaps change the IEAB's marching orders.

Dukes ultimately won approval for an amendment to the motion to give the economic study the go-ahead. In her amendment Dukes specified that the Council "divide the cost of this half to power and half to fish and wildlife."

And while the funding would still stem from the IEAB budget earmark, Dukes said she was cheered by a vote that is an "acknowledgement that we have moved beyond what we have done in the past," i.e. veering from the fish and wildlife-only utilization of the economic panel.

"I agree. We do need to sort this out," NPCC Chairman Bill Booth, Idaho, said of the impending IEAB role discussion.

The task order was approved by the Council 7-1, with Eden casting the lone dissent.

The investigative study aims to assess both the potential damage and related costs of a mussel infestation compared to the potential cost of programs to avoid or delay infestations in the Columbia River basin.

"This comparison should yield insights regarding where scarce funds might be best spent to avoid higher costs of established mussel colonies," according to the IEAB proposed task.

No infestations have been found in the Pacific Northwest but they seem to be moving closer and closer. The invasive mussels were found in January 2007 in Lake Mead in the Southwest and since then quagga or zebra mussels have been found in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah.

Quagga and zebra mussels are native to the Black and Caspian sea drainages and were introduced to the Great Lakes region of the United States in the late 1980s via ballast water discharge from ocean-going vessels. They have spread throughout the central and northeastern U.S., via a number of pathways. Adult mussels easily cling to hard surfaces such as boats and can be spread when boats are trailered from one waterbody the next.

Congressional researchers have estimated that the "Dreissenid" mussel infestations in the Great Lakes area cost the power industry $3.1 billion between 1993-1999, with an economic impact to industries, businesses and communities of more than $5 billion, according to the recently completed "Quagga-Zebra Mussel Action Plan for Western U.S. Waters."

A video briefing of the action plan for the Council is available at http://www.nwcouncil.org/video/Default.asp#quagga