California pushes for alliance on Klamath dams 

John Driscoll

The Times-Standard

October 30, 2007

California is trying to persuade five other western states that the dams on the Klamath River have outlived their usefulness and would cost more to keep operating than to tear down.

The California Energy Commission on Monday sent a letter outlining its assertions to public utilities commissions and other agencies in Oregon , Washington , Wyoming , Idaho and Utah .

The commission said that its analysis found that if dam owner Pacificorp gets a new license and has to provide fish passage over the dams and other fixes, the company's ratepayers will have to pay more for a less reliable energy source. It would be cheaper to take the dams out and replace the lost power with another source.

”Based on this information,” the letter by commission Executive Director B.B. Blevins says, “we question the wisdom of investing hundreds of millions in ratepayer money to sustain a nominal and environmentally damaging power plant when a lower cost environmentally superior project alternative is available and feasible.”

The public utilities commissions will eventually have to determine what cost is reasonable to Pacificorp's ratepayers, a decision that is expected to play a major role in the future of the hydropower project.

The lowermost dam, Iron Gate, blocks salmon from much of their historic spawning grounds, and California agencies say the reservoirs behind the four dams provides optimal conditions for massive and sometimes toxic algae blooms.

Blevins also points out concerns by Pacificorp and others about removing a source of energy that doesn't produce greenhouse gases. But he said that the company plans to build two new coal plants and three new natural gas plants in other states, which have a much larger carbon footprint than removing the dams and replacing the power generation would have.

Blevins writes that the licensing process through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help restore salmon runs.

John Driscoll can be reached at 441-0504 or jdriscoll@times-standard.com. 

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Source:  http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_7319130