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This Website is Dedicated to Alvin Alexander Cheyne January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005 |
Group
wants Buffett to remove dams
Two years ago Leaf Hillman was a finalist for an American Indian
leadership award from Howard and Peter Buffett for his role in a
campaign to remove four dams from the
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| A
coalition that wants to remove four dams to restore salmon
migration on the |
Next week he will be among about 40 American Indians, commercial
fishermen, environmentalists and others bringing the dam removal
campaign to the Buffett brothers' father in
The reason: Last year Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. bought
PacifiCorp, which owns and operates those
The meeting's national attention often attracts groups seeking to
publicize their causes, but the
"I have been working on this issue for most of my life,"
Hillman said from
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PacifiCorp
is discussing a settlement and favors investing hundreds of millions of
dollars in "fish ladders" and other ways to restore salmon
migration to the remote river basin, while continuing to generate
electricity from water running through the dams' hydroelectric power
plants. Federal agencies recommend the "fishway" improvements.
"The real key issue for us is that it's all about the salmon and
the steelhead and trying to come to a solution that allows for
reintroduction of these fish up and down the river," said Bill
Fehrman, a former Nebraskan who is president of PacifiCorp.
"We believe, frankly, that there are ways to that which would allow
us to continue to have emission-free energy from the dams."
Fehrman said he will be at the
"They're certainly within their First Amendment rights to
come," he said. "It has absolutely no impact on anything that
we would do or not do, and really has no impact at all on our
negotiations."
Starting today, dam removal advocates plan to hold press events in
Once here, they plan to demonstrate to explain their cause to
Hillman may even raise a question at the shareholders' May 5 meeting at
the Qwest Center Omaha. The group says the efforts will be
nonconfrontational.
"From what we can tell, Warren Buffett seems like a good guy,"
said S. Craig Tucker, campaign coordinator for the Karuk Tribe of
The four tribes in the Klamath basin - Karuk, Hoopa and Yurok from
northern
Hillman and Tucker say the demonstrations were a factor in Scottish
Power's decision to sell the company to
Tucker said the group hopes that Buffett and the shareholders will
influence PacifiCorp to remove the dams.
"We can't say this is all Warren Buffett's responsibility because
he just bought the company," Tucker said. "But what we do want
Warren Buffett and the other investors to understand is that their
business is behaving in a very socially irresponsible manner."
The timing is important because for the first time in decades PacifiCorp
is applying to renew its federal and state licenses for the dams and
power plants.
The oldest of the dams was built in 1917 and the latest in 1962. Tucker
and Kelly Catlett of the Friends of the River in
The dams shut off migration of salmon, steelhead trout and lamprey eels
to the upper reaches of the Klamath basin and have reduced migration
below the lowest dam. Last year federal authorities prohibited
commercial salmon fishing along a 700-mile stretch of the West Coast
because of the low migration numbers.
Hillman said the salmon are inseparable from the region's tribal
culture: "Our ceremonies are dictated and timed around the
migration of the salmon."
Much of the argument is about money.
If PacifiCorp invests $300 million in fish ladders, screens and other
improvements, it would be entitled to recoup the money through
electricity rates paid by its customers. No one knows who would pay to
have the dams removed, or how much, if anything, PacifiCorp would be
paid for giving up the dams.
Dave Kvamme, a PacifiCorp spokesman, said the company is willing to
compromise if its consumers can be assured of reliable sources of
electricity and if PacifiCorp is compensated for losing the dams.
Catlett, from Sacramento-based Friends of the River, argues that the
dams can't qualify for new licenses under current federal and state laws
and thus will become a liability, not an asset worthy of compensation.
The California Energy Commission said in December that removing the dams
would cost less than building the fish ladders.
Kvamme disagreed, saying nobody knows the true cost of removing the
dams. He said it may cost between $1.5 billion and $4.5 billion just to
remove and treat the millions of tons of sediment behind the dams.
In addition, he said, state governments on the West Coast are requiring
power companies to use more renewable energy sources, and hydroelectric
power is the most reliable renewable energy available.
Kvamme said the dams generate enough electricity for 70,000 homes.
Fehrman, a former Nebraska Public Power District executive who became
PacifiCorp president with
"We'll continue to work with the groups for as long as it's
fruitful and there's a chance of an outcome that can meet the needs of
the parties," he said.
Hillman, the tribal official, said the groups will continue working with
PacifiCorp to see the dams removed.
"We will see them in
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