PacifiCorp agrees to a seasonal fish-friendly shutdown at Klamath Basin dam

The Link River Dam's turbines will stop for four months during spawning of two threatened species  

April 18, 2008

GAIL KINSEY HILL

The Oregonian

PacifiCorp has agreed to shut down the hydropower turbines at Upper Klamath Lake 's Link River Dam for four months each year to help endangered fish, the utility said Thursday.

PacifiCorp will turn off the turbines in late summer through early fall so Lost River and Shortnose suckers can more successfully migrate to the southern part of the lake to spawn. The suckers are listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The conservation group Oregon Wild signed on to the agreement after pressuring PacifiCorp to enhance its restoration efforts.

The deal is not part of the long-running and more comprehensive negotiations that have tried to settle differences among the Klamath River Basin 's disparate interests, which include power generators, environmentalists, tribes and farmers. Still, PacifiCorp and Oregon Wild say the settlement offers a model for balancing the concerns of traditionally warring factions.

Curtailment of the Link River Dam turbines July 15 through Nov. 15 will have little effect on PacifiCorp's overall operations and no effect on customer rates. The powerhouses produce only a small fraction of the utility's electricity supplies.

A relicensing proposal for the dam already calls for eventual decommissioning.

PacifiCorp also will dedicate 22 percent of the revenue generated from dam operations -- about $100,000 annually -- to sucker restoration projects.

In July, Oregon Wild told PacifiCorp it would sue the utility under the Endangered Species Act because, the group said, the turbines were harming suckers.

Lost River and Shortnose suckers spawn near the dam, which spans Upper Klamath Lake 's southern tip. "The fish literally were being taken into the turbines," said Ani Kameenui, Oregon Wild's Klamath campaign coordinator.

Both parties applauded the settlement.

"We always prefer to negotiate rather than litigate to achieve reasonable and balanced outcomes," said Rob Lasich, PacifiCorp's energy president.

Steve Pedery, Oregon Wild's conservation director, called the agreement the "best and quickest way to provide increased protection for the endangered fish that call Upper Klamath Lake home."

Klamath Basin groups involved in a broader agreement that involves the four larger PacifiCorp dams on the main stem of the Klamath River were supportive but less enthusiastic.

"It's a small component of a much bigger blueprint to restore the basin," said James Honey, program director of Sustainable Northwest, a conservation group that has helped broker a proposal known as the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement.

That plan would cost about $1 billion over 10 years and would include removal of four Klamath River dams owned by PacifiCorp. Twenty-six groups, including irrigators, tribes and conservationists, have signed on to the proposal.

Though PacifiCorp is not among them, negotiations with the utility continue, Honey said.

Gail Kinsey Hill: 503-221-8590, gailhill@news.oregonian.com For environment news, go to http://blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen  

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