Feds say no more cheap power 

Those cheap rates were part of the "negotiated" Klamath settlement. The deal struck by the various entities of the settlement earlier this year - including PacifiCorp themselves -- was that those cheap rates would stay, but later higher, market rates would be slowly integrated.

 

The deal was designed to help farmers adjust to the costs of pumping ground water for fields and cattle. Those farmers and ranchers are already menaced by rising diesel, feed and fertilizer costs. Now, it looks like they might have to pay far-higher rates for electricity, too.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the lawsuit brought by the Klamath Water Users Association against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for lack of standing, effectively killing - at least for the time being - the agreement about electricity stuck by water users in the Basin and PacifiCorp.

FERC refused to incorporate the cheap electric rates into conditions for a new operating license being sought by PacifiCorp to operate hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River.

But the dream of low rates isn't dead. 

Scott Seus, who farms on the irrigation project, told the Associated Press last week that some Basin farmers and ranchers were disappointed in the ruling, but were still hoping to get low-cost power from negotiations over a proposal to remove the dams to restore salmon in the Klamath River - that is, the fabled "negotiated settlement."

It's difficult to tell at this point which side will win out - the Feds or the entities that signed onto the negotiated settlement - or if the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling will effectively make moot the power-rate element of the negotiated agreement.

But even PacifiCorp is on the side of farmers and ranchers.

PacifiCorp had refused to renew a 1956 contract that gave about 1,000 farmers on the Klamath Reclamation Project very low rates for electricity to pump irrigation water, arguing they would lose millions of dollars. But later, due to the recent negotiated settlement, the Portland-based utility did agree to phase in market rates over several years.

Tom Schlosser, attorney for the Hoopa Tribe, told the AP last week that the ruling was a victory for tribes working to restore struggling salmon runs.

"This is an important ruling, because given the problems fish are having in the Klamath system, we shouldn't be subsidizing the withdrawal of water," Schlosser said. "This prevents the continuation of a subsidy that has been part of the problem."