Indybay: Klamath Communities Rally at FERC Hearings to Demand Corporate Accountability

FERC Plan would give Corporate Polluter a cheap out at river’s expense

Yreka, CA – Despite what some experts consider an iron clad case for the removal of PacifiCorp’s Klamath dams, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently issued a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) that recommends only modest changes to current dam operations. This week, FERC is hosting a series of hearings to gather public comment. The deadline for comment is December 1.

“FERC’s draft document disregards sound science, the needs of our communities and federal law. It allows Warren Buffet’s power company to continue the export of this basin’s wealth to corporate shareholders around the globe,” according to Leaf Hillman, Vice Chair of the Karuk Tribe.

Dam removal advocates celebrated last March when federal agencies issued their terms and conditions for a new license to operate Klamath dams. Although the agencies’ terms and conditions did not order dam removal, they did order ‘volitional fish passage.’ In other words, the agencies want fish to swim upstream, not hitch a ride in trucks. The National Marine Fisheries Service did recommend dam removal as the preferred means to achieve this mandate. The agencies do not have the authority to mandate removal, however, FERC does.

“Our economic analysis concluded that dam removal is cheaper than installing ladders as did FERC’s,” according to Troy Fletcher of the Yurok Tribe. However, FERC’s draft environmental impact statement does not recommend dam removal or ladders. Instead the commission recommends trucking fish around the dams. Fletcher adds, “FERC’s meager reintroduction plan fails to take into consideration all the species that the agencies’ terms and conditions address such as spring salmon and lamprey eel.”

“There’s a reason that the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Department of Interior gets to write the terms and conditions for a new license – that’s where the fish biologists work. By ignoring sound science FERC is not only attempting to land the death blow to Klamath salmon, but they’re breaking federal law as well,” says Hillman.

The Tribes point out that under the Federal Power Act, the agencies’ terms and conditions must be implemented; however last year the Act was amended to give stakeholders the ability to appeal fish agency requirements and to make alternative recommendations. PacifiCorp appealed the conditions however the presiding administrative law judge ruled against PacifiCorp one day after FERC released the draft EIS.

In addition to the Federal Power Act, the United States also has Tribal Trust responsibilities. “With this draft plan, the United States clearly fails to fulfill their responsibility to Tribes. Again, Indian People will have to fight tooth and nail to protect their resources,” adds Fletcher.

PacifiCorp’s dams are poor power producers, generating on average only 90 mW of power. However, the dams severely damage water quality and host toxic algae blooms and parasites that cause fish diseases. The result has been widespread in-river Tribal and sportfishing closures as well as coastal fishing closures over 700 miles of coastline. On August 10th, Secretary of Commerce Gutierrez declared a “fishery failure” disaster in California and Oregon because of the Klamath declines. Both Oregon and California Governor’s had previously declared economic disasters and are seeking federal disaster assistance for those whose livelihood have been affected.

“PacifiCorp’s dams are a key factor in creating the rotating crisis in the basin. One year the feds cut water to farmers, the next they cut fishing allocations in a desperate effort to keep salmon alive. Everyone else is paying the price for PacifiCorp’s impacts. Today, we have an opportunity to finally hold PacifiCorp accountable,” states Hillman.

Tribes, fishermen, and others will rally at each of four FERC public hearings over the next couple of weeks. On Tuesday, November 14 hearings were held in Klamath Falls at the Shiloh Inn from 9 a.m. to noon.

On Wednesday, November 15, hearings will be held at the Yreka Community Theater from 9 a.m. to noon and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

On Thursday, November 16, hearings will be held at the Red Lion Hotel in Eureka from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Additional meetings are being added in Oregon for later this month.

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For more information and previous press releases log on to: http://www.karuk.us/press%20&%20campaigns/press.php

Also see http://www.ferc.gov

S. Craig Tucker, Ph.D.
Klamath Campaign Coordinator
Karuk Tribe of California
office: 530-627-3446 x3027
cell: 916-207-8294
ctucker [at] karuk.us

http://www.karuk.us