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GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP)
— An ambitious deal calling for the removal of four hydroelectric dams
to restore struggling salmon runs has been forged among farmers, Indian
tribes, fishermen, conservation groups and government agencies battling
over scarce water in the region.
The plan, announced
Tuesday, came after two years of closed-door negotiations and resolved
long-standing differences over how to divide
The agreement, which
would be the largest dam removal project in the nation's history, must
be reviewed by federal agencies, including the U.S. Justice Department.
The deal would open 300 miles of rivers that have not seen salmon in the
past century and restore 60 miles of reservoir to free-flowing river,
according to American Rivers, a conservation group.
Removal of the Klamath
River dams, perhaps as soon as 2015, depends on agreement from their
owner, Portland-based utility PacifiCorp, as well as some $400 million
in new spending on salmon restoration, primarily from Congress, for a
total of $1 billion over 10 years.
The plan contains no
provision for paying the estimated $180 million to remove the dams,
leaving that to PacifiCorp.
"What we've come up
with is a blueprint for how to solve the Klamath crisis," said
Craig Tucker, Klamath Campaign coordinator for the Karuk Tribe, which
has been working for years to restore dwindling salmon catches that were
once key to members' diet and culture.
"We wanted to put
together a plan that keeps fishing communities whole and farm
communities whole," he said. "The only thing standing in the
way of where we are today and resolution is Warren Buffett's Klamath
dams."
PacifiCorp is a unit of
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., which is controlled by Warren Buffett's
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
PacifiCorp has previously
said it would be willing to remove the dams if its ratepayers don't have
to pay. But it has also been pursuing a new 30- or 50-year operating
license, which would require it to spend about $300 million to build
fish ladders. The dams produce enough power for about 70,000 homes.
"It's worth taking a
pretty serious look at it," said PacifiCorp spokesman Paul Vogel.
"Not being in the room (during negotiations), we don't know whether
anyone has seriously represented our customers on our behalf, because
our customers have to be protected in this."
Steve Thompson, director
of the California-Nevada office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in
Thompson added that he
knew of no dam removal project in the country that has restored more
habitat or would generate more fish, and characterized the $400 million
in new spending as a better investment than past disaster relief to
farmers and fishermen.
Luther Horsley, president
of the Klamath Water Users Association, which represents the 1,000 farms
on the project, said farmers achieved their goals of predictable
irrigation deliveries, affordable power for irrigation pumps, and
freedom from future lawsuits over endangered species.
Opposition to the
agreement is coming from the Hoopa Valley Tribe, based on the
Steve Pedery of Oregon
Wild and Robert Hunter of WaterWatch said they were skeptical that the
deal could actually produce the extra water salmon need to thrive, or
that Congress could come up with the money. They characterized the
agreement as a sweetheart deal for the Bush administration to give
farmers what they want.
Hoopa Chairman Clifford
Marshall said the agreement gives irrigation water priority over the
needs of salmon and requires the tribe to waive its water rights on
behalf of fish, without any hard assurances the dams would come out.
"Dangling a carrot
like this will not work for Hoopa," he said.
The Klamath was once the
third most productive salmon river system on the West Coast, but it has
declined because of misguided hatchery practices, overfishing,
development and the loss of habitat to dams, mining, and logging.
Fish returns have become
so small that in 2006 commercial salmon fishing had to be nearly shut
down off most of
During a drought in 2001,
irrigation was shut off to most of the Klamath Reclamation Project to
protect threatened suckers in
When irrigation was
restored in 2002, some 70,000 adult Chinook salmon died in the river
from diseases caused by low and warm water. After the commercial fishing
collapse in 2006, the governors of
(This version CORRECTS
the new spending amount to $400 million, instead of $500 million.)
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Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i4HAakwXZYosUwUCFDwwUj6Fp_fQD8U6M9IG1