NOAA Wants Removal of Dams Considered

By JEFF BARNARD AP Environmental Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

December 1, 2006

GRANTS PASS , Ore. — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should analyze removing all four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River to help struggling salmon, says the federal agency in charge of restoring their runs.

In comments on the commission's initial look at relicensing the aging dams, NOAA Fisheries said FERC's approach in a draft environmental impact statement violated federal law requiring analysis of a full range of alternatives.

Meanwhile, PacifiCorp, the Portland-based utility that owns the four dams straddling the Oregon-California border, said it has revised its proposal to truck adult and juvenile fish around all four dams.

The new proposal calls for modifying the four dams to allow young fish migrating downstream to swim past the dams on their own. A fish ladder would be built to allow adults to swim over J.C. Boyle Dam, the farthest upstream and the top electricity producer.

Adult salmon returning to spawn would be trucked around the three downstream dams, and some would be trucked around J.C. Boyle.

"The company's proposal today underscores both its willingness to compromise and its desire to reach a common understanding with the federal agencies on these important issues to ensure successful reintroduction of fish in the project area," Bill Fehrman, president of PacifiCorp Energy, said in a statement.

PacifiCorp, which serves 1.6 million customers in six western states, is seeking a new operating license for the Iron Gate , J.C. Boyle, Copco No. 1 and Copco No. 2 dams, which produce about 150 megawatts of power, enough to serve 70,000 customers.

Friday was the deadline for responses to FERC's initial look what changes would be required to relicense the dams.

FERC must balance the value of the power generated by the dams against the cost to fish. NOAA Fisheries had advised the fish are more valuable than the power.

The river's flagging salmon runs triggered a near shutdown of commercial salmon fishing on the West Coast this summer that cost commercial fishermen $16 million, and forced severe cutbacks of irrigation water to Klamath Basin farmers in 2001.

The governors of Oregon and California have called for a summit in January to plot how to repair the Klamath's ecosystem, damaged by gold mining, logging, agriculture and hydroelectric power production. The top issue before the summit is dam removal.

FERC's draft environmental impact statement looked at removing the two tallest dams, building fish ladders, and trucking fish around the dams.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material  herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed  a  prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and  educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

Source:  http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4373067.html