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FERC
ignores salmon mandates, recommends keeping Klamath dams
From
the Associated Press
The final environmental impact statement from the staff of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission chose trapping and hauling fish around the
dams rather than building expensive fish ladders and reducing power
production to help salmon.
The statement described that as the best economic choice while allowing
for evaluation of restoring fish to the upper
FERC spokeswoman Celeste Miller acknowledged that fish ladders and other
improvements required by NOAA Fisheries and other federal agencies are
"generally" included in the final license, leading salmon
advocates to dismiss the latest evaluation as "legally
infeasible."
Meanwhile, Indian tribes hoping to restore salmon runs that once were
crucial to their cultures,
Participants said they were near an agreement that will be taken to
PacifiCorp. The utility has said it would be willing to remove the dams
if it doesn't hurt its customers. It also is willing to spend $300
million on fish ladders and other required improvements to keep the dams
that produce power without greenhouse gases that contribute to global
warming.
Based in
It is seeking a new license to operate the four dams straddling the
Oregon-California border on the
When removing all four dams was evaluated against building the fish
ladders and other measures required by NOAA Fisheries and other federal
agencies, removing the dams came out $7 million a year cheaper -- a net
power production loss of $13.2 million a year compared to $20.2 million.
Keeping the dams and trapping and hauling fish, along with conditions
recommended by FERC, would produce $2 million a year in net power
benefits. PacifiCorp's proposal for operating the dams, which carries
the least improvements for fish, would produce net annual power benefits
of $17 million.
Salmon advocates noted that removing all four dams produces the best
improvements in water quality and salmon restoration, reducing obstacles
that block 300 miles of spawning streams, draining reservoirs that breed
toxic algae that pollute the
"The bottom line is they're saying removal is the best and cheapest
alternative," said Glen Spain of Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen's Associations, a
Craig Tucker, Klamath campaign director for the Karuk Tribe, added:
"FERC staff is pandering to PacifiCorp's bottom line, where it is
cheaper for everybody and avoids an environmental catastrophe and the
destruction of tribal cultures to simply remove the dams."
"It's a schizophrenic document," said Jim McCarthy of Oregon
Wild, a
PacifiCorp spokeswoman Jan Mitchell said the company had not yet seen
the document.
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Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-dams17
nov16,1,4778728.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true