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Bill Kiene semi-retired
09-30-2009, 10:46 PM
Subject: Utility agrees to terms removing Klamath dams


For perspective, they report that the four dams generate enough
power for 70,000 homes. That equates to about 100 MW, or about 20
modern wind turbines. These four dams don’t generate all that much p
ower…


Utility agrees to terms removing Klamath dams

Oakland Tribune-9/30/09

By Jeff Barnard (Associated Press)

The utility that owns four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River
has agreed to terms for their removal, a key milestone in efforts to
restore what was once the third biggest salmon run on the West Coast
and end decades of battles over scarce water.

PacifiCorp, the states of California and Oregon, American Indian
tribes, federal agencies, irrigators and conservation groups
announced the draft agreement Wednesday. Signing is expected by the
end of the year.

Actual removal is not scheduled to start until 2020, and depends on
full funding of the removal, a determination by the U.S. Secretary
of Interior that it will actually help salmon and is in the public
interest, and authorization from Congress.

"This agreement marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Klamath
River and for the communities whose health and way of life depend on
it," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. "Hats off
to all the stakeholders who have worked so hard to find common
ground on one of the most challenging water issues of our time."

PacifiCorp will not bear the estimated $450 million cost of removing
the dams. Oregon has approved $180 million in surcharges on state
ratepayers. Another $250 million depends on California approving
general obligation bonds.

"If the federal government and the states of California and Oregon
sign onto this negotiated final settlement, then we will join with
them and all the other stakeholder groups that may choose to sign
the agreement," PacifiCorp Chairman and CEO Greg Abel said in a
statement.

The utility serves 1.6 million customers in Oregon, California,
Washington, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming, and is owned by MidAmerican
Energy Holdings Co., a unit of Warren Buffett's Omaha, Neb.-based
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

"When the Klamath dams come down, it will be the biggest dam removal
project the world has ever seen," Steve Rothert, California director
for the conservation groups American Rivers, said in a statement.
"We will be able to watch on a grand scale as a river comes back to
life."

Water wars have long simmered in the Klamath Basin, where the first
of the dams and a federal irrigation project built in the early 20th
century turned the natural water distribution upside down, draining
marshes and lakes and tapping rivers for electricity to put water on
dry farmland that grows potatoes, horseradish, grain, alfalfa and
cattle.

A drought in 2001 forced a shutoff of irrigation water to sustain
threatened and endangered fish. When the irrigation was restored the
next year, tens of thousands of salmon died trying to spawn in the
Klamath River, which was too low and too warm to sustain them.

Besides blocking salmon from the upper basin, the dams raise water
temperatures to levels unhealthy for fish. Their reservoirs produce
toxic algae. The fish are beset by parasites.

The four dams—Copco J.P. Doyle, Copco 1, Copco 2, and Iron Gate—
together produce enough electricity for 70,000 customers.

Pressure has been building since PacifiCorp applied for a new 50-
year federal operating license in 2004 and made no provision for
fish passage, which stops at Iron Gate near the Oregon-California
border.

California and Oregon's governors pressed for dam removal after West
Coast commercial salmon fisheries collapsed in 2006 because of
declines in Klamath River returns, triggering a disaster declaration.

Federal biologists mandated that fish ladders and other improvements
costing $300 million be added to the dams before a federal operating
license could be renewed.

California water authorities have been taking a hard look at the
dams' role in toxic algae plaguing the river, and river advocates
have sued PacifiCorp to fix the algae problem.

Final approval of the dam removal agreement is key to authorization
of a separate agreement to spend $1 billion over the next decade on
environmental restoration in the Klamath Basin.

Some conservation groups were not happy that dam removal continues
to be linked to letting farming continue on the Lower Klamath and
Tule Lake national wildlife refuges, preventing restoration of
wetlands that would contribute to better water quality, and
guaranteed irrigation levels for farmers in the upper basin.

"It's fantastic that we have attention on the Klamath Basin and
might get a shot at dam removal," said Steve Pedery, conservation
director of Oregon Wild in Portland. "But we really can't afford to
allow dam removal be linked to making other environmental problems
in the basin worse."

Some details remain unresolved. It is not certain, for example,
whether the federal government or some other entity will take
possession of the dams to remove them.#

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