Klamath dams may go

Basin stakeholders reach agreement to remove 4 barriers

By Dylan Darling (Contact)
Wednesday, January 16, 2008

OPEN AGAIN?: Iron Gate Dam on the Klamath River, seen here in 2004, is among four dams that 26 stakeholder groups in the Klamath Basin agree should be removed to help salmon and steelhead. 

After years of disputes and lawsuits, those often at odds over water in the Klamath Basin have come to an agreement -- the dams have to go.

In a historic proposal announced Tuesday, salmon and steelhead would return with the removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River . Growers still would get irrigation water from the river, which runs from southern Oregon and through Siskiyou County on its way to the Pacific Ocean . The proposed 50-year agreement would cost $96 million per year, according to a coalition of 26 basin stakeholders.

"This agreement only works with the removal of four dams," said Troy Fletcher, a consultant, and former executive director for the Yurok Tribe, which has a reservation near the river's mouth on the north coast.

Removing the dams -- Iron Gate, J.C. Boyle, Copco No. 1 and Copco No. 2 -- would open up an estimated 300 miles of habitat for salmon and steelhead. Stakeholders involved with the agreement include federal and state agencies, environmental organizations, grower groups and fishing interests.

But Portland, Ore.-based PacifiCorp is working with the federal government toward keeping the dams in the river and producing power, said company spokesman Paul Vogel.

"Kind of makes me question what was settled," he said.

And not all Klamath stakeholders agree there is an agreement.

The Hoopa Valley Tribe, whose reservation flanks the lower stretch of the Klamath River , said it won't endorse the agreement because it doesn't assure water for salmon.

"The terms of this so-called restoration agreement make the right to divert water for irrigation the top priority, trumping salmon water needs and the best available science on the river," said Clifford Marshall, tribal chairman.

The 26 groups who crafted the 256-page agreement after 2½ years of closed-door talks said it could squelch the embers of dispute remaining from the summers of 2001 and 2002.

In 2001, the federal government cut off the usual supply of water to growers in the Klamath Reclamation Project -- which straddles the California-Oregon border -- because of water requirements for fish protected by the Endangered Species Act.

It sparked a water war that drew national media attention. The following summer, the regular supply of water again flowed into the irrigation canals and more than 30,000 salmon died downstream in the Klamath River , which critics blamed on low flows in the river because of the diversion.

Along the river, PacifiCorp has a string of power dams, which produce about 150 megawatts of power, or enough to power about 70,000 homes, that are up for a new federal license. Because of the negotiations involved with the relicensing process, the different groups started a dialog that became the agreement talks, Vogel said.

The company, which is owned by billionaire Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, pulled out of the talks "several months ago" when a pillar of it became the removal of the dams, he said.

Although PacifiCorp wasn't involved with the talks, Greg Addington, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, said he recently called the company's official heading up the relicensing to tell him the agreement was coming

"They certainly should have known we were getting close," he said.

Reporter Dylan Darling can be reached at 225-8266 or at ddarling@redding.com.

To read the Klamath Basin restoration proposal, click here.

To read the Klamath Basin restoration summary, click here.

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Source:  http://www.redding.com/news/2008/jan/16/klamath-dams-may-go/