P R E S S R E L E A S E
KARUK TRIBE
For Immediate Release: August 21, 2006
Contact: Craig Tucker, Klamath Coordinator, Karuk Tribe, 916-207-8294
KLAMATH DAMS STAND TRIAL
Sacramento, CA – In the first hearing of its kind, the fight over
PacifiCorp’s Klamath River Dams continues this week in a Sacramento, CA
courtroom. The so called ‘Energy Policy Act Hearing’ was created by an
amendment to the Federal Power Act passed by congress last year.
“The EP Act Hearing essentially provides power companies an additional
opportunity to challenge federal agencies’ requirements for a new dam
license,” according to Craig Tucker, Klamath Coordinator for the Karuk
Tribe.
In March, Federal agencies issued the terms and conditions for a new
license which include fish ladders and flow improvements to benefit
dwindling Klamath River salmon, steelhead and lamprey runs. PacifiCorp is
fighting these mandates arguing that suitable habitat for salmon no longer
exists upstream of the dams.
However, in reaches of river between and above the dams, healthy
populations of redband trout flourish and support a popular sport fishery.
“Salmon and steelhead would use the very same habitat as redband trout
if they could reach it,” stated Toz Soto Lead Fisheries Biologist for
the Karuk Tribe.
PacifiCorp witnesses have also testified that there are no suitable salmon
stocks to make use of fish ladders. Salmon advocates see this argument as
cynical. “Of course salmon have not evolved to use ladders. But all over
the country salmon adapt to use ladders,” according to Soto who goes on
to add, “the best way to restore fish is simply to remove the dams all
together as NOAA Fisheries recommends.”
“PacifiCorp is essentially arguing that they have screwed up this river
so much that they shouldn’t have to do anything to fix it,” according
to Leaf Hillman, Vice Chair of the Karuk Tribe. “PacifiCorp is just
another large energy corporation that thinks it can run rough shod over
rural communities. Its time for PacifiCorp to realize that Klamath
communities are going to demand that they act responsibly and fix the mess
they created,” adds Hillman.
This year California and Oregon will lose an estimated $150 million in
fishing revenues due to the commercial fishery closures. The closures were
instituted to protect dwindling Klamath runs. Tribes cannot harvest enough
salmon to feed their people and recently the reservoirs behind the dams
became a health hazard when the toxic blue green algae Microcystis
aeruginosa bloomed turning the water into a thick green sludge.
Despite the vitriolic debate in the courtroom, company officials did state
a willingness to give up the dams under the right circumstances. In a
press statement PacifiCorp President Bill Fehrman asserted, “We have
heard the Tribes’ concerns. We are not opposed to dam removal or other
settlement opportunities as long as our customers are not harmed and our
property rights are respected.”
Still, the company continues fight any deviation from status quo in the
courtroom.
This courtroom dispute pits PacifiCorp against every other major entity on
the river, including the Federal Government, the States of Oregon and
California, the Klamath Tribes, the Hoopa Valley Tribe, the Yurok Tribe,
as well as a coalition of conservation and fisheries groups.
“In their court documents, PacifiCorp essentially gives up the Klamath
salmon fishery as doomed, largely as a result of their own facilities. We
simply are not willing to give up and throw in the towel like that. Unlike
PacifiCorp, we believe that this river is not a lost cause, and that the
Klamath is restorable. I think that after the evidence is weighed, people
will be able to see through PacifiCorp’s cynical strategy of
futility,” said Hillman.
After the hearing, the parties will file post-hearing briefs with the
Judge, who will issue his findings of fact at the end of September, 2006.
The agencies will issue final license conditions sometime in early 2007
based on the facts found by the judge, a consideration of alternative
conditions filed, and public input.
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