Regulator
staff back restoration of salmon, but Klamath River
dams
would stay
GRANTS PASS (AP) — Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff has
recommended gradually reintroducing salmon to reaches of the Klamath River
blocked by four hydroelectric dams, rather than removing all the dams or
building fish ladders.
The recommendation came Monday in a draft environmental impact statement on
PacifiCorp’s application for a new 50-year operating license on four
hydroelectric dams that have blocked salmon for a century on the Klamath.
The river’s struggling salmon runs triggered a near shutdown of commercial
salmon fishing on the West Coast this summer that cost fishermen
$16 million.
The environmental analysis, required by the National Environmental Policy Act,
does not look at removing all four dams, an alternative favored by Indian
tribes, commercial fishermen and conservation groups, and formally recommended
by NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency in charge of restoring threatened coho
salmon in the Klamath River.
