The U.S. Interior and Commerce departments' insistence that installing fish ways -- which could cost $60 million to $200 million -- could make it difficult for PacifiCorp to profitably operate the project, and some say that could prompt a settlement with tribes, conservation groups, farmers and fishermen to take down the dams. The departments also demanded that most water diverted from the Klamath for power at J.C. Boyle Dam be sent into the river instead, which would sharply reduce power generation at a key PacifiCorp facility.

The departments don't have the authority to demand decommissioning the dams. That's left to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is overseeing the complex relicensing effort. PacifiCorp's license expired this month, and it will now rely on an annual license to operate.

Fish ladders could open up about 60 miles of river to chinook salmon, steelhead and lamprey and threatened coho salmon, and with further restoration efforts, eventually allow fish to reach historic spawning grounds in streams above Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon. The conditions released Wednesday also protect water intakes at Keno Dam, keeping in place vital infrastructure for U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project irrigators.

”Restoring access to good-quality spawning and rearing habitat above Iron Gate Dam is a major step in rebuilding healthy salmon runs and fisheries that depend on them,” said Jim Lecky, regional administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service. “It creates the opportunity to reconnect the Klamath basin, from headwaters to the ocean.”

Troubled river

While the river has its share of troubles, the dams are of significant concern. They block fish from reaching spawning grounds, they heat water in reservoirs, prompt algae blooms -- including highly toxic algae -- and degrade water quality in the river. That is believed to have serious effects, especially on young salmon, which may be more vulnerable to deadly parasites when stressed by hot, slow, alkaline water.

Federal fisheries managers are now considering sharp cutbacks or elimination of fishing in the river and along hundreds of miles of coastline to protect low numbers of salmon. That could cost coastal economies about $150 million.

There are no fish ladders on the lowermost Iron Gate Dam or at Copco I and Copco II dams. The agencies wrote that PacifiCorp would also have to rebuild its antiquated fish passage facility at J.C. Boyle.

Yurok Tribe biologist Dave Hillemeier said he was pleased with the federal agencies' commitment to begin helping the ailing river. Hillemeier hopes that PacifiCorp might realize the costs of the improvements outweigh the benefits.

”Our hope is they'll do the right thing and remove at least four antiquated dams that produce a minimal amount of electricity from the mainstem river,” Hillemeier said.

The whole project produces about 150 megawatts of electricity, about enough for 150,000 households. Any group that disputes the conditions can request a hearing before an administrative law judge.

Talks ongoing

There are parallel settlement talks occurring alongside the relicensing process. Representatives from the Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa Valley and Klamath tribes, counties in Northern California and Oregon, agencies, fishing groups and conservation organizations have been meeting regularly.

PacifiCorp spokesman Dave Kvamme said that he's not surprised about the terms and conditions. He said the company has until April 15 to file its comments about the demands.

But Kvamme said that the utility, which has settled disputes over six other projects, believes that there is more leeway in the parallel discussions. Three of those have led to the removal of dams, he said. Kvamme said the company is hoping to find a practical solution that protects its shareholders.

”I think it's been our preference all along to find solution in the settlement process,” Kvamme said. “You can be more creative in the settlement process.”

While the talks are confidential, removal of the dams is undoubtedly a part of the discussions. Language that could provide funds from California to go toward such an effort was in an infrastructure bond that failed in recent weeks -- ironically, because of sparring over money for a new dam in the San Joaquin Valley. But supporters of the measure say that the language is likely to find its way into another bond measure, which, if passed, would go before voters in November.

To help determine if such an enormous project is even feasible, the California Coastal Conservancy is working to find out what's behind the dams. Sediment trapped in reservoirs sometimes contains toxins, and if it does in this case, it may be more complicated and expensive to take out the dams.

The federal requirements released Wednesday are further justification that the states need to fully study dam decommissioning, said Michael Bowen with the conservancy. But he said that PacifiCorp is stalling the project.

”The conservancy is trying to answer some basic questions about removal,” Bowen wrote in an e-mail. “But unless PacifiCorp lightens up and lets us move forward quickly, our publicly funded study is dead in the algae-laden waters of the Klamath reservoirs.”

The Interior and Commerce conditions are subject to public hearings. FERC is expected to come out with a draft environmental document in June, in which it will lay out a series of alternatives available for the PacifiCorp project. Bowen said the state study on trapped sediment and alternatives for fish passage will be critical to the federal agency as it weighs dam decommissioning as among the possibilities for the Klamath River.

To read the conditions, go to http://www.fws.gov/yreka.