Klamath Agreement: Part 3

By Emily Wood & Mike Nelson

ABC Affiliate - KDRV Medford, Oregon
April 30, 2009

This is the final of a three part series looking at the issues surrounding the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement.

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, aimed at settling decades of water dispute on Oregon and California's Klamath River, is likely entering its final stages.

A final draft resolution is set to be reached among parties involved in the KBRA. That document will be made public by June 30th.

A large part of the KBRA hinges on what is being called the hydro-agreement, essentially, the 'dam removal' part of the KBRA. PacifiCorp has signed off on an Agreement In Principle, or AIP, which outlines the framework for dam decommissioning.

"We understand the passion that is associated with those down in the Klamath Basin. We have a lot of customers, who, this is all they've ever known, are these dams, and especially in the Klamath, where water distribution is so tricky," says PacifiCorp Spokesman Art Sasse.

PacifiCorp owns all four hydropower dams on the Klamath River. While tribal members, farmers and fishermen have been working together on the KBRA, they've also committed to supporting the hydro-agreement, outlined as Part Two of the eight-part KBRA. The hydro-agreement calls for "the removal of the lower four Klamath River dams under conditions that protect and advance the public interest".

"The number one goal for the company has always been to protect our customers and protect them in terms of price, cost, their cost, and also in terms of liability," says Sasse.

The dams run by PacifiCorp must first be licensed under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC. A dam's license lasts 50 years, and the parties involved with the KBRA say the process is an opportunity for dam removal.

"It really started because of the dams. PacifiCorp was going through their relicensing to get a new long term license to operate dams from the federal government," says Greg Addington with the Klamath Water Users Association.

Before PacifiCorp can get a new license, all four dams must pass federal environmental standards.

"These dams, the last time they were licensed, there was no Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act or recognized Indian tribes. So to get a new license they're going to have to build fish ladders," says Karuk Tribe Spokesman Craig Tucker.

Building fish ladders would cost PacifiCorp more than $350 million.

Meanwhile, under a bill that passed the Oregon Senate in February, PacifiCorp's Oregon ratepayers would cover the first $180 million in dam removal costs.

"What we've done is negotiate a deal where they get their cost capped over the next 10 years so that they know basically the absolute ceiling that they would pay," says Sasse.

PacifiCorp estimates that Senate Bill 76, if signed into law by the governor, would cost residential customers an average $1.50 surcharge on their monthly bills. The bill is currently being reviewed by the House, with a House hearing on the bill scheduled for May 7th.

"This is the one we can actually make a difference in. If you want to restore the fisheries and put the coastal fishermen back to work, get the dams off the Klamath," says Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski (D).

Not everyone believes the bill will protect rate payers.

"There's so many hidden costs in here, that they don't address, that are actually in Senate Bill 76 that don't have a cap on them. They have a cap on the physical structure part of the removal, nothing on the environmental impacts of the sediment," says Klamath Off-Project Water Users Association President Tom Mallams.

Before the federal government will sign off on dam removal, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar will have until 2012 to look at scientific studies on sediment. $4 million in federal stimulus money will go to pay for those studies.

"Salazar has indicated that the Obama Administration plans to move forward with the KBRA," says U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R- Dist. 2).

If Salazar rules it is environmentally safe to remove the dams, PacifiCorp will begin the removal process.

PacifiCorp doesn't yet know what it will do to replace the power created by the dams, but says it has years to figure it out.

"We're confident that we'll be able to replace that with a cost effective clean energy resource, and that's really the bottom line here," says Sasse.

"PacifiCorp has definitely come around to see that the economics makes sense for them and their shareholders, and sooner or later those dams are coming out," says Erica Terence with Klamath Riverkeeper.

When the final draft of the KBRA is made public June 30th, the Oregon legislature will then have to pass Senate Bill 76, along with California, who needs to pass a $250 million bond measure.

If the Interior Secretary rules it is environmentally safe to remove the dams in 2012, they won't start the removal process until at least 2020.

(Go to the link below to see the broadcast. ~ KBB)

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Source: http://kdrv.com/news/local/113342