March 7, 2013 Seneca Nation Identifies Major Shortcomings of Competition in Fight for Federal Hydro License Posted in: News Tribal Lands currently used for Seneca Pumped Storage Project CATTARAUGUS/ALLEGANY TERRITORIES - FirstEnergy, the operator of the Seneca Pumped Storage Project near the Kinzua Dam in northwestern Pennsylvania, lacks the necessary property rights to successfully operate the Project, the Seneca Nation of Indians asserted in an official submission filed on Monday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Seneca Nation made this submission in connection with the relicensing proceedings before the federal agency for the hydropower generation project. The Seneca Nation and FirstEnergy are both competing for the federal license to run the facility. "FirstEnergy does not have and has never had the Seneca Nation's consent to use our sovereign tribal lands for power generation, " said Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder, Sr. "It's just another example of outsiders taking Indian property rights and using them for personal gain without properly compensating the Indians," said Snyder. The Seneca Pumped Storage Project is located along the Allegheny River and Reservoir in the Seneca's Allegany Territory, southern New York, and northern Pennsylvania. The Project pumps water from the Allegheny Reservoir to an upper reservoir and releases the water from the upper reservoir back into the Allegheny River and Reservoir, generating hydropower in the process. The license of the current operator, FirstEnergy, will expire in 2015. In connection with its efforts to regain the federal license, FirstEnergy is seeking to condemn the Nation's sovereign land rights as part of the regulatory process. Under the Seneca Nation's 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, its lands are protected and not subject to ordinary condemnation for power development. In 1938 and 1941, the U.S. Congress authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build Kinzua Dam, which created the Allegheny Reservoir, for flood control and water quality enhancement in the Allegheny River Basin. The dam was designed to flood 21,175 acres of land, including 9,978 acres of the Nation's lands in its Allegany Territory. In 1964, the U.S. Congress authorized condemnation of limited easements for water flowage in some of these Nation lands for flood control and related federal purposes, but it did not include power development by a non-federal entity. In 1965 the Federal Power Commission, FERC's predecessor, licensed the non-federal Seneca Pumped Storage Project to use the Allegheny Reservoir as its water source. The original recipient of the license in the 1960s, and now First Energy as their successor, did not seek or obtain from the Nation the property rights necessary for its operation. "We are presently considering what remedies to seek for FirstEnergy's past and current unauthorized use of our lands and any potential environmental harm it has caused; fixing a wrong and taking back what rightfully belongs to the Seneca Nation," said Snyder. The Nation holds its Allegany Territory under the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, which was signed by President George Washington. .