Demands for Fish Ladders Ignored
Regulators bypass plan to help Klamath River salmon
runs cross dams blocking spawning sites.
By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer
September 26, 2006
SACRAMENTO — In a tentative ruling Monday that was
criticized by environmentalists and Indian tribes, a federal commission that
regulates hydropower brushed aside U.S. wild-life agency demands for fish
ladders to help dwindling Klamath River salmon runs cross dams that block
upriver spawning grounds.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a draft environmental
review of the four dams, which are operated by PacifiCorp of Portland, Ore.,
as part of a license renewal process that is slated to be concluded early
next year.
Environmentalists, tribes and commercial fishermen have long
battled for removal of the dams, which they believe have played a critical
role in the decline of chinook, the highly prized king salmon of the
marketplace, while putting the disappearing coho salmon on the endangered
species list.
Steve Rothert of the environmental group American Rivers said the commission
"overstepped its regulatory powers" in bypassing federal wildlife
agency recommendations for fish ladders.
Instead, the regulators in principal agreed with a plan by PacifiCorp to
transport salmon around the dams to get them to upper parts of the river
that have been blocked for more than half a century.
Foes of the dams had hoped that the cost of building fish ladders —
estimated at more than $100 million — would force the decommissioning and
removal of the structures, which they say also slow and warm the flows,
causing increasing problems with fish-killing parasites and disease.
FERC officials could not be reached late Monday.
PacifiCorp officials said they have yet to fully review the draft, which
company spokesman Dave Kvamme described as "a massive document."
Though the company's requests were largely reflected in the environmental
statement, Kvamme suggested that the process still had a long way to play
out and that "the final form will likely be different" than the
draft issued Monday.
