Klamath announcement signals major progress in dam fight

November 19, 2008

On November 13th Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and PacifiCorp CEO Greg Abel announced an Agreement in Principle (AIP) to remove the lower four Klamath Dams. This represents a major milestone in our struggle to restore the Klamath River.

The AIP represents a framework that will guide negotiations toward a final agreement. Although non-binding, PacifiCorp has made strong public statements that they are committed to reaching a final and binding dam removal agreement in coming months with Tribes and other stakeholders.

Immediately following the historic announcement several groups voiced criticism, pointing out the fact that there is still a lot of work left to do before the salmon are in the smokehouse. That's true, but we think that the “no we can't” crowd should realize that the road to dam removal has already been paved.

We launched our campaign to “Bring the Salmon Home” in 2004 with a trip to Scotland to protest the shareholders meeting of what was then PacifiCorp's parent company, Scottish Power. We were told by many that we would never be able to convince the public, much less the Bush administration, that the removal of four hydropower dams was in the public interest. Last Wednesday, Bush's Interior Department Counselor Michael Bogert said that the administration recognized that “removing the four Klamath dams was key to resolving the Klamath Basin's scarce water issues.”

As it became clear to us that in order to pull off the largest dam removal in history we must first build a bipartisan, multicultural coalition we reached out to irrigators and commercial fishermen. Critics told us that farmers, fishermen and Indians could never work together. Today the Karuk, Yurok, and Klamath Tribes are working closely with irrigators and fishermen to resolve the Klamath Crisis in manner that meets the needs of all the Klamath's diverse rural communities.

We were told that we would never be able to take on popular billionaire Warren Buffett on his own turf to influence corporate policy. Months after disrupting his shareholders' meeting last summer in Omaha, Neb., the company has moved forward with a dam removal proposal.

We agree with critics that the agreement signed last week is not complete. We agree that it has flaws. However we are as undaunted by these challenges as we were by the ones that preceded them. We are eager to take our seat at the negotiating table to work on a final agreement that meets the needs of the River and the People that depend on it. We urge anyone that still thinks “no we can't” to consider how far we have come. Now is the time for them to join us as we bring this negotiation, and the salmon, home.

This My Word was a joint statement of the Karuk, Yurok, and Klamath Tribes.