Step taken toward removing Klamath River dams

The most powerful opponents of efforts to remove four dams that have blocked salmon migration on the Klamath River for the past century did an about-face Thursday and agreed in principle to a dam-removal plan along the California and Oregon border.

The proposal by Bush administration officials and PacifiCorp, the hydroelectric power company that distributes the water, would not remove the dams for 12 more years. It was nevertheless hailed by fishing groups, tribal representatives and environmentalists as the first big step in the largest dam-removal project in U.S. history.

"This is a huge milestone toward what would be the largest river-restoration effort ever undertaken," said Steve Rothert, California director of American Rivers, a national nonprofit river conservation group. "There's still a lot of work to be done, but PacifiCorp went on record in front of the world and said this is a good deal and good policy."

It has taken several years for the stakeholders to reach an agreement. Talks of removing the dams began in 2002 after a federally ordered change in water flow led to the die-off of 33,000 salmon.

But negotiations between PacifiCorp, California, Oregon, the federal government, fishermen and various Indian tribes became more serious as the problems with the salmon fisheries came to a head this year. There have been devastating declines in the number of spawning salmon in both the Klamath and Sacramento river basins. The paltry numbers forced regulators for the first time to ban all ocean fishing of chinook salmon this year in California and Oregon.

Dams have been blamed for much of the historic decline, but until now PacifiCorp and the federal government have fought efforts to remove the Iron Gate, Copco I, Copco II and J.C. Boyle dams on the Klamath.

The agreement announced Thursday does not commit to the removal of the dams. Instead, it provides a framework for the various interest groups, government agencies and businesses to collaborate on environmental and economic studies. The plan, as it stands, is to finalize the agreement in June and then conduct studies until 2012, when the secretary of the interior would make a final decision.

2020 dam removal target

"If the data collected in the next four years shows that removing the four dams is environmentally and economically prudent, then the target date for removal is 2020," said Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, who admitted during a news conference that he is normally opposed to the removal of hydroelectric power plants. "We had a directive from the president to have a collaborative solution, to do all we can to have an agreement that is visionary. ... But it takes time."

Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, said the fish may not have that much time.

"Frankly, I think we are giving them too much time," Grader said. "And this isn't even an agreement. PacifiCorp says it will consider taking these dams down. Well, under the Clean Water Act, they may have to take them down anyway."

The four mid-size dams were built along the Klamath's main stem starting in 1909, blocking off about 300 miles of salmon spawning habitat. Chinook once swam all the way up to Klamath Lake in Oregon, providing crucial sustenance to American Indians, including the Yurok, Karuk and Klamath tribes.

The hydroelectric dams warmed the river water, allowing destructive parasites and blooms of toxic, blue-green algae to contaminate the water even below the dams. Water diversions to cities and for agriculture exacerbated the problem, according to fishery biologists.

The number of salmon now in the river is less than 10 percent of the historic population, and the fish are continuing to disappear, according to biologists and fishery experts.

The Yurok and other tribes with rights to the river have been battling for years to get the dams removed. Fishermen and environmentalists rallied to their side, but the dam operator and farmers along the Upper Klamath Basin have fought the effort and even sought to extend the hydropower lease.

In 2001, increased downriver flows by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to sustain salmon were resisted by farmers, who seized irrigation canal head gates in protest. The Bush administration sided with the farmers and slashed releases to the river, setting the stage for the 2002 die-off of 33,000 fish, a disaster that apparently kick-started settlement talks.

"We all have those images of what happened in the Klamath," Kempthorne said. "Nobody wants to see those images again, so we were motivated to find a solution."

Surcharge on customers

As part of the agreement, Paci-fiCorp has pledged to raise $200 million of the cost of removing of the dams by implementing a surcharge on its customers in California and Oregon. The offer is seen by many as an acknowledgement by Greg Abel, the chairman and CEO, that tearing down the dams would be likely to cost less than making the improvements necessary to comply with the federal Clean Water Act and Fish and Wildlife Agency regulations, which would require, among other things, the construction of fish ladders and screens.

The utility would have to get certification from both states under the Clean Water Act to continue operating the dams, a potentially difficult proposition given the algae problems.

California would raise an additional $250 million from voter-approved general obligation bonds, bringing the total removal fund to $450 million. The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement proposed in January calls for $1 billion worth of river restoration, the majority of which would be paid by the federal government.

The tentative agreement would provide enough water for the salmon yet still provide irrigation water to Oregon farmers. The dammed-off river would be restored and the upper reaches would be repopulated with long-absent chinook.

Solar and wind power would be considered for the 70,000 customers who would be effected by the loss of hydroelectric power from the dams that straddle the California-Oregon border.

"This is a tremendous milestone for the Klamath and our goal of working toward a healthy river," said Troy Fletcher, policy analyst with the Yurok Tribe. "We're looking forward to working with the company and with federal and state officials to get a final agreement."

Grader urged people to save the superlatives for the momentous occasion when something is actually done.

"Let's save the champagne for when the dams come down," he said, "not for when we agree to negotiate further and study this."

E-mail Peter Fimrite at pfimrite@sfchronicle.com.