Sucker for Suckers

By Phil Hayworth

Pioneer Press

Fort Jones , CA

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

page E5, column 1

pioneerp@sisqtel.net

After being threatened with a lawsuit last July, PacifiCorp last week agreed to shut down the hydroelectric turbines at the Link River Dam each year between July 15 to Nov. 15 - ostensibly so that they won't threaten to mulch migrating Lost River and short-nosed sucker fish migrating to the southern part of the Upper Klamath Lake to spawn.

In an agreement with Oregon Wild - a non-profit group with $1.17 million in reported revenue -- the PacifiCorp agreed to shut down power production by idling its turbines for four months each summer.

They say the half million in revenue they get from the 3.8 megawatts of power the dam generates each year won't affect customers' power bills. Pat Reiten, president of PacifiCorp subsidiary Pacific Power, went so far as to reportedly say that his company was already planning to decommission the Link River Dam operation and limit operations in summer when the suckers are present. While spinning the agreement as something that was already underway, the truth is that the Portland-based utility agreed to negotiations only after Oregon Wild filed notice it would sue under the Endangered Species Act to protect short-nosed suckers and Lost River suckers they say get sucked into the turbines on Link River Dam.

Meanwhile, the shutdown deal will result in the loss of 3.8 megawatts of clean hydro power while pumping some $100,000 - or 22 percent of the proceeds generated each year from the dam's annual operations - into a fund for habitat restoration.

The deal, both parties insist, is not part of the more comprehensive negotiations surrounding the Klamath River settlement recently pounded out by environmentalists, tribes and farmers, but now facing serious challenges from on-project water users in the Basin, among others. Yet, Oregon Wild says the settlement offers a model for future negotiations.

But most observers agree that, even if the turbines on the Iron Gate and Copco dams were shut down, it's unlikely salmon would be affected. Only the removal of the dams - or complete reworking of fish ladders and water quality - could have an affect on salmon populations. A simple temporary shut down would likely have little or no affect.

Meanwhile, Reiten was telling media last week that he hoped the Link River talks would serve as a model - suggesting a portent of things to come. He reportedly noted that Pacific Power has agreed to settlements in its last six applications for dam license renewals, and that negotiation is preferable to litigation.

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