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State, feds: Klamath dam
removal cheaper than envisioned
John
Driscoll
The
Times-Standard
State and federal
agencies are standing by their stance that tearing down hydropower dams
on the
The California Energy
Commission and the U.S. Department of the Interior on Monday said
decommissioning the dams could be tens and even hundreds of millions of
dollars cheaper than keeping them in place.
Pacificorp's customers
could benefit to the tune of $32 million to $286 million by dismantling
the dams and building power plants to replace the 150 megawatts the
project produces. Taking out the dams would also benefit salmon and
other fish blocked from hundreds of miles of spawning grounds, the
report reads.
The new estimates were
developed using new information that Pacificorp filed with the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission weeks ago, which the company said shows the
opposite is true. Pacificorp claims that getting a new license for the
dams and building fish ladders to help salmon swim above the dams would
save its ratepayers $46 million.
But when the state energy
commission and the Interior Department plugged in additional information
provided by Pacificorp, the result backed up its analysis.
It is “the only
thorough, objective and transparent assessment tool that analyses the
cost differences between two broad alternatives,” the report reads.
The information is meant
to help those involved in relicensing and settlement efforts, the report
reads.
The report used
information in part from the California Coastal Conservancy that found
in November that the 20 million cubic yards of sediment trapped behind
the dams would cost $88 million to remove, including water treatment and
fish rearing facilities.
Pacificorp spokesman Dave
Kvamme pointed to an earlier estimate by FERC that physically removing
the mud and trucking it away could cost several billion dollars.
”It was a flawed study
to begin with and it remains a flawed study,” Kvamme said of the
energy commission and interior department report. “It ignores the
elephant in the room.”
He also said the report
does nothing to enhance the dialogue between interested parties.
The California Coastal
Conservancy is now pursuing a more detailed investigation into options
for decommissioning the dams. But conservancy project manager Michael
Bowen said if anything, its earlier estimates were conservative.
Bowen said Pacificorp is
attacking the assumptions of the state and federal report, but appears
unwilling to offer any other tool to transparently assess the costs of
relicensing and decommissioning.
”I think Pacificorp is
coming to the realization that facts are stubborn things,” Bowen said.
John Driscoll can be
reached at 441-0504 or jdriscoll@times-standard.com.
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