Pact looks to remove hydropower project on the Klamath River by 2020

John Driscoll

The troubled Klamath River and its once-legendary salmon runs have had an infusion of hope with an agreement being pitched by California, Oregon, the federal government and Pacificorp -- whose four main hydropower dams would be pulled beginning in 2020.

In an announcement Thursday, top government and company officials remarked on the historic pact to embark on the biggest dam removal project ever in the United States. In fact, it's bigger by far than any other such effort, and those promoting the deal say it has the potential to heal deep, old wounds among disparate interests in the Klamath basin.

U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne recounted the government shut-off of water to farms in the Upper Klamath Basin in droughty 2001, followed the next year by a reversal of policy that crimped water to fish. That triggered the devastating deaths of about 68,000 salmon recorded in photographs sent around the world.

”We all have those images of what happened in the Klamath,” Kempthorne said. “Nobody wants to see those images occur again.”

The agreement in principle calls for Pacificorp to raise charges to its ratepayers by 2 percent over time to contribute $200 million toward decommissioning the dams, a project that should save customers in the long run. Most of Pacificorp's ratepayers are in Oregon. Until the target date, Pacificorp would also make changes to salmon restoration estimated at $500,000 a year.

The state of California tentatively agreed to put up a $250 million bond, though an investigation into the costs of decommissioning the dams could mean the state has to put up less. That determination would be made within four years. A final agreement would require legislation in both states and in Congress.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski called the agreement the product of years of work, and said that Pacificorp is a great corporate citizen.

”They stayed the course and I'm just very, very grateful,” Kulongoski said.

Until this week, Pacificorp has been reluctant to say it supported dam removal, and its parent company MidAmerican Energy Holdings -- owned by billionaire Warren Buffett -- has repeatedly said it wouldn't interfere in Pacificorp's operations. But something has changed regarding Pacificorp's stance on the Klamath River, as has Kempthorne's recognized opposition to dam removal in general.

”We are proud to be moving forward with a detailed framework,” said Pacificorp Chairman and CEO Greg Abel.

Removing the dams would open up hundreds of miles of historic spawning grounds to salmon.

The agreement would dovetail with a related one signed by a group of 26 tribes, fishing organizations, farmers and agencies in January, which looks to make conditions for salmon better, improve water quality and shore up water supplies for farms. The dam agreement was not included at the time, and some groups looked to the Clean Water Act to force dam removal -- a complicated process that experts say would take years.

The states, the federal government and Pacificorp are banking on a settlement to prevent the river from falling into an endless stream of litigation that would much longer and be far more uncertain.

Critics of the deal are calling the deal political and not based on science, and have said it will undermine regulators' abilities to enforce endangered species and water quality laws. Groups like Oregon Wild and the Northcoast Environmental Center claim that the Bush administration is kowtowing to supporters in the agricultural region of the Klamath basin -- and that any deal should wait until a new administration is in place.

”This agreement is like a highway with five different off ramps and no throughway,” said environmental center President Pete Nichols in a statement. “As the clock runs out on their time in office, the Bush administration is trying to reward powerful friends in the basin, let Pacificorp off the hook and stick citizens with the bill.”

Chuck Bonham, an attorney with the conservation group Trout Unlimited, redirected charges of politicizing the process.

”Refusing to be open to solutions because of their origin is playing politics with salmon,” Bonham said.

Bonham said it will be critical to involve President-elect Barack Obama's transition team to carry through the years-long process. There is a real chance for progress, he said, because unlike some other river systems, it's no mystery what is depressing the salmon fishery on the Klamath, and that taking the dams out will help.

As part of the agreement, the investigation into the costs and benefits of dam removal would have to be complete by March 2012. If the government finds the benefits of the costs sufficient to justify the decommissioning of the dams, it would designate a state or private agency to head up the actual removal. Several earlier studies have found that the cost-benefit ratio favors the dams' removal, but now a detailed analysis will be done to confirm or deny that.

Yurok Tribe policy analyst Troy Fletcher said that there are lots of details to be worked out with the parties in the settlement group. But significant momentum has been generated by Pacificorp and the federal government agreeing that dam removal is the direction they intend to take, he said.

Fletcher expects that along with January's Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement -- in which the federal government has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars toward -- real progress can be made.

”This is the missing piece of that puzzle,” he said.

The Klamath dam deal:

* Looks to remove Iron Gate, Copco I and II, and J.C. Boyle dams

* Requires final agreement among stakeholders and legislation

* Detailed cost-benefit study would be done

* Pacificorp would put up $200 million through surcharges

* California would contribute up to $250 million

* Allows Pacificorp to operate dams until decommissioned

* Provides Pacificorp and customers liability protection