Editor, The Herald and News
Please accept the following opinion piece to print in The Herald and News.
By Bill Kennedy, Klamath Basin farmer
August 15, 2006
The debate has been boiled down to a simple dams or salmon.
This sounds a lot like fish or farmers. Some of the dams have been in the
river for about 100 years, not a very long time.
Today the hydro portion from the Klamath dams seems small at 150 Megawatts.
The natural gas fired plant the city of Klamath Falls is trying to operate is
almost five times this size. If the hydro portion of Pacific Corp’s power
portfolio is gone, it will be replaced with natural gas fired plants. This
would quickly complement its large dependence on coal-fired plants.
While we are seeing an advocacy to dismantle four big dams on the Klamath, we
are looking ahead to more gas-fired plants in Oregon. They cannot be built in
California because of environmental concerns.
Dismantling our power capacity on the Klamath River is one symptom of a very
serious problem we are starting to recognize in this nation. We have ignored
the basic needs of maintaining our infrastructures. We have dike failure in
Louisiana, California and Oregon. Our power production is dependent on
imported oil and gas. Our power grid cannot feed hungry air conditioners in
Sacramento. As you read this opinion, the demand for water in the western
United States, including Klamath Lake, has increased.
I believe we can have modern hydropower with effective fish passage and modern
hatchery management. We can have vibrant fisheries up and down the Pacific
coast. Renewable power can complement this.
A few people in our nation are willing to see our roads, schools, reservoirs
and our power production crumble from lack of maintenance and lack of planning
for the future. In the case of the four big dams on the Klamath River, we see
advocacy to deliberately dismantle our power production capacity.
At the fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City last March one concern was that
a majority of Africans lack regular electricity, preventing them from
operating pumps to extract water from wells. Some at the Forum pointed out
that hydroelectricity could help.
"Investment in hydroelectric infrastructure is not a choice anymore for
Africa, it is a must," Jamal Shagir, the World Bank's director of water
and energy, said in a report
While we are talking about removing hydroelectric capacity that is directly
linked to the development of our irrigated crop production, the World Bank
recognizes the importance of hydroelectricity to bring people out of poverty
and away from dependence on other nations.
While we continue to see our infrastructure of irrigated agriculture ignored
and dismantled, third world nations in Africa, the Americas and Asia are
trying to build what we have had for over 100 years.
Are we willing to move towards an insecure poverty or do we value the
importance of hydroelectricity on the Klamath River? Do we want to import our
food fiber and power or do we believe in the security of domestic capacity and
capability?
Somewhere, perhaps in Klamath County, we need to set a floor on the loss of
our irrigated acres. We need to recognize the value of our irrigated acres for
its production of food, fiber, and energy. Our economy and the wildlife we
enjoy depend upon this production. Our appealing open space and our social
values, quality of life, are threatened by the continued loss of irrigated
agriculture.
We must decide to maintain what we have. We must plan for growth. We need to
develop new water and power supplies in our nation.
We cannot continue to be held hostage by unrealistic demands disguised by
nations that are part of our community. The reality check is that our western
United States continues to grow. Without careful planning that maintains our
infrastructure and develops for our future needs, we will be on a fast track
to poverty. This is the ultimate threat to our environment and wildlife.
William D. Kennedy
Klamath Basin farmer
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publish it.