EVERETT — The Snohomish County PUD has abandoned efforts to harness power from Sunset Falls on the South Fork of the Skykomish River.
The Everett Daily Herald reports the three-member PUD commission made its decision this week.
PUD spokesman Neil Neroutsos says the PUD wants to put an emphasis on conservation.
The PUD had proposed building a hydroelectric power plant at Sunset Falls near Index. It is the third of the three waterfalls on the South Fork Skykomish River.
The falls drop 104 feet.
The proposed Sunset Fish Passage and Energy Project had been controversial since the PUD began considering it in 2011.
It ran into opposition from homeowners, ratepayers, environmentalists, tribes and others.
In a letter to the Herald, Lynne Kelly of Gold Bar, said the proposal was a “fish death-trap and money-sucking project.”
