After missing a project deadline, Black Canyon Hydro has called a stop to the project that would have built a hydroelectric dam on the North Fork of the Snoqualmie River.

In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), dated Oct. 13, project manager Chris Spens said that Black Canyon Hydro would discontinue the project.

The letter from Spens was in response to notification from FERC on Oct. 6 that Black Canyon had missed its own Sept. 30 deadline for submitting a final license application on the project. The FERC notification gave the company 10 days to respond with the final application and a report detailing the project’s progress.

“It is the opinion of BCH Principals that the current King County administration of the comprehensive plan, policies, land use and shoreline codes do not adequately support the development of significant new hydropower projects on a community scale,” Spens wrote.

“After taking a long, hard, practical and financial look at what it would take to obtain a license and build the project, the principals have decided to discontinue their effort and stop the application process.”

He said this area had missed an opportunity for a low-impact energy project that would benefit the county, and ended the letter by writing that the project has become “un-economical” to meet agency requests and remain financially sound.

The city of Snoqualmie, the Snoqualmie Tribe, King County and the Washington Department of Natural Resources had all expressed opposition to or concerns about the project.

Black Canyon Hydro began the permitting process for a 25-megawatt power plant in 2011. The proposal included a seven-foot inflatable dam on North Fork with a powerhouse 2.4 river miles downstream and a 150-foot tailrace returning water to the stream.

Spens said it would have been a $70 million project, and that his company spent more than a million just in the permitting process.

“We don’t generally disclose that other than to say it’s measured in the millions,” Spens said.