Capital Press: PacifiCorp order expected to be 'lots of little' opinions

Sept 1, 2006

Don't look for a sweeping decision on Klamath River dams when Administrative Law Judge P.L. McKenna issues his order on the PacifiCorp relicensing case heard last week in Sacramento.

The hearing, a first under the 2005 federal Energy Policy Act, gave PacifiCorp a chance to challenge what's known as "material facts" used to arrive at proposed license conditions. McKenna's order is due Sept. 28.

Two federal agencies this spring proposed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that it require fish ladders around three dams in California and reworking of ladders at a power plant in Oregon. They also seek summer downstream flows that the power company contends would cut in half the annual 151-megawatt output of the combined generation facilities.

Downstream American Indian tribes want outright removal of the hydropower dams, a position that's not officially part of relicensing. McKenna will rule on narrow issues, leaving the big picture up to FERC.

"We will expect to find opinions on lots of little areas of material fact," said Dave Kvamme, a PacifiCorp spokesman. "What we won't hear is if a fish ladder … should be added."

What conditions are put on future Klamath hydroelectric operations have implications for upstream farmers diverting irrigation water through the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project and for commercial and sports fishermen and American Indian tribes. They've watched annual salmon runs drop off and, in the case of the upstream Klamath Tribes, vanish altogether.

California Oregon Power Co., the predecessor of PacifiCorp, blocked over 100 miles of upstream habitat when the first dam was completed in 1918.

A PacifiCorp fish hatchery, operated by the California Department of Fish and Game, cranks out salmon and steelhead to replace lost runs. However, the Klamath Fishery Management Task Force, a federal advisory group, calculates salmon quotas based on non-hatchery fish. This year most offshore fishing was suspended due to expected small returns of native fall chinook.

The council will meet by telephone Sept. 6 to shape a long-term policy for future years when fish returning to the river appear headed for fewer than the 35,000 floor thought to be needed to sustain the run.

There are 22 parties, from farmers to fishermen, in the FERC licensing process. In addition to the formal administrative hearing, PacifiCorp and parties are working behind closed doors in an effort to settle as many issues as possible.

"We still believe settlement is a better way," Kvamme said by phone from his office in Portland.