Feb. 2--An effort to find new sources of renewable "small hydro" power for the Railbelt is running into opposition from advocates of another, equally noble environmental cause: protection of the mountain headwaters of the fish-rich Kenai River.

Homer Electric Association, working with a private consortium, is studying "low impact" small-hydro projects for four mountain lakes and streams around Moose Pass and Cooper Landing.

But the state-funded studies ran into loud opposition in the last two weeks from local residents, who foresee plenty of possible impacts from the proposed diversion pipelines and access roads, including threats to the scenic area's salmon spawning and its tourist-based economy.

"None of these are acceptable in the Kenai River watershed because they're going to modify the natural flows," said Bob Baldwin, president of the Friends of Cooper Landing, a group active in land-use issues for a decade.

He dismissed the term "low impact" as "total PR spin."

Several score residents of Moose Pass showed up at a standing-room-only meeting Wednesday night to pepper utility officials with questions. HEA officials said attendees seemed skeptical but less hostile than at a meeting a week earlier in Cooper Landing, where 50 people urged the utility to drop the whole idea right now. They argued the small projects, each producing only three to six megawatts of power, aren't worth the disruption.

"The environmental issues, to us, seem huge compared to the amount of power they're going to get out of it," said Bill Stockwell, a Cooper Landing angler. He said plans for nearby Crescent Lake had "totally unhinged everyone."

"I don't think we heard anything we didn't expect to hear," said Brad Zubeck, the project engineer for HEA. He said the studies are aimed at finding answers to the tough questions raised by local residents.

Homer Electric and its private partner are looking at four projects:

--Crescent Lake. The lake, a popular hiking and biking destination, would get a new drainage east into Carter Lake, where a 13,000-foot pipe would plunge to a powerhouse near the Seward Highway. The flows of Crescent Creek west toward Cooper Landing would be reduced.

--Grant Lake. A small dam east of the Seward Highway would raise Grant Lake's level as much as nine feet. The level would drop in winter as much as 25 feet below current levels. An above-ground pipe would carry water down to a powerhouse on Grant Creek, where planners say it would be returned to the stream in time to replenish the most productive fish spawning habitat.

--Falls Creek.