Issue of dams comes to Klamath

October 18, 2008

By Nicholas Grube

Triplicate staff writer

A meeting regarding the fate of hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River will take place in one of Del Norte County's smallest communities Monday.

Officials from the California Water Resources Control Board will be in Klamath for one of a series of stops in Northern California to ask citizens how they are affected by the controversial PacifiCorp dams.

This information will be incorporated into an environmental impact review that will be used to help determine whether the Water Resources Control Board will approve a water quality certificate necessary to get a federal license to operate the dams.

"This one is particularly important because there's so many communities in the northern part of the state that are affected by this," said Dave Clegern, an information officer with the Water Resources Control Board. "We just need input from people who are affected by these things and from the agencies that are affected."

PacifiCorp is seeking a new permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to operate the dams. These licenses are valid for 30-50 years.

Many people are opposed to relicensing, saying the dams block critical salmon spawning habitat and contribute to the growth of toxic blue-green algae that floats downstream and has become more prevalent over the years, resulting in agencies posting public health warnings that tell people to avoid contact with the water.

Others want the dams to remain as sources of cheap electricity and to help irrigate fields in the upper Klamath Basin.

As part of the relicensing process, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission drafted an environmental impact study that evaluated six scenarios for the future of PacifiCorp's dams. These included keeping the dams as they, trapping and hauling fish around the structures, and removing the dams.

But the state Water Resources Control Board stated that a number of these options did not comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.

Now the Water Resources Control Board will perform its own environmental impact review — the subject of Monday's meeting — to study the effects of removing anywhere from two to four of the dams or installing fish ladders on the structures.

"This is basically just to tell us whether these things will satisfy the environmental requirements," Clegern said.

Since federal relicensing hinges upon water quality certification from both California and Oregon, it's unclear how this environmental impact review will affect PacfiCorp's bid to continue operating the dams.

Clegern said the company would either have to comply with the findings of the environmental impact review or devise a new proposal that would meet state standards.

"They would have to come up with an acceptable alternative," Clegern said, "and at this point we're not sure what that is."

Art Sasse, a spokesperson for PacifiCorp, described Monday's meeting, and the ones that will follow, as just additional steps in a long process. He downplayed the significance of the Water Resources Control Board only focusing its study on four options, none of which included PacifiCorp's proposal.

"That's simply staff opinion to provoke discussion. We're still early in process," Sasse said. "It's standard operating procedure that the staff starts at some point, but we're a long way from the end of the process of what certification will look like."

Meanwhile, there are still negotiations going on behind closed doors for a settlement between PacifiCorp and stakeholders, such as environmentalists, American Indian tribes, fishermen, and farmers, regarding dam removal.

So far no agreement has been made, but if one were reached the relicensing process would likely be moot.

Still, Ken Setcho, the assistant director of the Yurok Tribe's environmental program who monitors water quality on the Klamath River, said it's important that people come to Monday's meeting to express their opinions.

"I think the state has sort of taken an extra step and will potentially consider more alternatives," Setcho said. "It should be exciting for stakeholders because it's an opportunity to provide further comments."

The Klamath River stretches for more than 250 miles from Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon to the Pacific Ocean in Del Norte County. The four dams being considered for removal include the Iron Gate, Copco 1 and Copco 2 dams in California, and the J.C. Boyle dam in Oregon.

Reach Nicholas Grube at ngrube@triplicate.com.