Klamath dams get support

Salmon - An early federal environmental impact report says four dams should stay  

November 17, 2007

PETER SLEETH

The Oregonian

Four dams on the Klamath River should remain in place, federal officials recommended Friday, with struggling runs of salmon driven in trucks around them in an attempt to repopulate the river system.

The long-awaited recommendation immediately renewed debate about Pacific Power's hydro system and what is best for energy production and the environment.

The project starts in northern California , 190 miles from the ocean and consists of a series of seven dams and two additional generating facilities scattered upstream into southern Oregon . They were built between 1903 and 1967 and generate about 2 percent of the utility's electricity.

But they have long blocked salmon migration up the river, prompting Native Americans, commercial fishermen, ecologists and fishery experts to argue for the dams' removal.

The Klamath River once was a powerhouse of salmon reproduction, sending millions of fish to the ocean each year. Today, its stocks are so feeble that one run of silver salmon is protected under the Endangered Species Act and another run of king salmon is so weak the federal government closed commercial fishing in 2006 off the Oregon and California coasts.

Portland-based Pacific Power owns the dams and is seeking a new operating license for four of them -- Irongate, Copco I, Copco II and J.C. Boyle -- from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the next 30 to 50 years. On Friday, the commission's staff released its final environmental impact statement on the matter, recommending the dams stay in place.

Despite the argument for hauling salmon around the dams, fish ladders are almost assured to be added as a condition of relicensing because they are required by other federal agencies. Of the four dams, only J.C. Boyle has a fish ladder.

The environmental analysis done by FERC also showed that the least expensive alternative was to tear the dams down and restore the river.

"We see this as one step in a very long process," said Jan Mitchell, spokeswoman for Pacific Power, which greeted Friday's news with some satisfaction. "It's been our view all along that they can coexist, that the dams can be operated in such a way as they work for our customers and benefit fish."

The staff recommendation from FERC is just that, with no final authority over what happens to the dams. The commission will make its own decision, although when is far from clear.

All sides in the fight about the Klamath River dams rushed Friday to present their view on the FERC recommendation. Though the FERC staff supported continued dam operations, it also noted that removing the dams came out $7 million per year cheaper than keeping them operating with fish ladders.

"The important thing is that FERC's analysis says the cheapest of the two options is for dam removal," said Glenn Spain of Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, which represents some commercial fishermen.

Spain and representatives of 26 other private and government agencies huddled Friday in Redding , Calif. , trying to work out an agreement that would see the dams removed. The so-called "settlement talks" are an effort by Native Americans, conservationists, fishermen, farmers and government agencies to come to agreement on what to do with Pacific Power's dams.

"On the Klamath, we're on the cusp of seeing one of the most significant river restoration projects in our country," said Steve Rothert, director of the California office of American Rivers. "We must seize this opportunity to restore not only the river and the salmon runs, but also the way of life and the economies of the tribes and local communities."

The agreement they are working on calls for the removal of four dams, along with some 200 pages of other demands for water use on the river, while trying to assuage Pacific Power. The utility has not been a full partner in the talks and has not agreed to any conclusions arrived at in the settlement talks.

The results of the settlement talks would be presented to FERC, which would take the talks into account in deciding what conditions to put on a new operating license.

Pacific Power is a division of PacifiCorp, which is in turn owned by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a company controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffet's famed Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Peter Sleeth: 503-294-4119; petersleeth@news.oregonian.com

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material  herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed  a  prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and  educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

Source:  http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/

news/1195271769253620.xml&coll=7