Klamath River Dam Removal Update---Good News---Bad News

The FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) approved a partial transfer of four PacifiCorp Klamath River dam licenses to the KRRC (Klamath River Renewal Corporation) for the purpose of removing those dams on Thursday. But there is a catch, FERC ordered that PacifiCorp must remain as a co-licensee of the dams until the demolition is completed. To comply with the FERC order the agreement between PacifiCorp and the Klamath River stake holders must be renegotiated and resubmitted to FERC with in six months. PacifiCorp is in a very tough spot. They must either agree to the new terms and be financially liable if the dam removal projects incurs unforeseen expenses. Or they will be required to build fish ladders in accordance with the 1992 Clean Water Act. The cost to build the fish ladders is probably double what PacifiCorp agreed to pay in the original Klamath River settlement agreement--$250 million dollars. It is anyone's guess what PacifiCorp will do. In the meantime the project maybe be delayed for yet another year.

Barry L. Alan

That is a torturous delay. It seems like the longer it gets strung out the more chance there is for a project killer to emerge. My understanding is also that delays will generally lead to cost increases. I guess FERC is protecting the public by keeping Pacific on the hook for liability and cost increases but what they have done could also kill the project.

Thanks for the information.

I have mixed feelings about this latest development. On one hand it creates yet another delay and the potential for increased costs. On the other, It appears the FERC has a point in keeping PacifiCorp on the project as they have the expertise and resources to assure completion of the project and payment. Also, from the above post, "The cost to build the fish ladders is probably double what PacifiCorp agreed to pay in the original Klamath River settlement agreement--$250 million dollars." PacifiCorp appears to have an incentive to facilitate renegotiation of the agreement in that the alternative of constructing fish ladders or passage of some sort would be much more expensive than removal of the dams. Of course, with the exception of increased costs all of this is speculation on my part.

The FERC ruling is directly related to the majority of its members being anti-environment climate change naysayers appointed by the current federal administration. Supposed to be a bi partisan committee but even 1 of the 2 seats for the opposite point of view has been intentionally left vacant to eliminate any meaningful debate. Its a political play to kill the dam removal project. Cadillac Desert contains innumerable examples of similar political chess games that were used to build many of the economically nonsensical fish killing dams throughout the country.

This is really frustrating knowing this all could have been solved over a decade ago with the KBRA. Congress had six years to pass it and failed. Then the KHSA, which was arguably a worse deal, but still better than this current iteration with the KRRC. I have a bad feeling that we are going to be seeing delay after delay, especially with the current administration, and they may never come down.

I didn't know about the FERC commission, but it makes sense what they did. The FERC commission is supposed to be bipartisan with up to 5 members, but there are only currently 4 (3 R to 1 D). Here are the current commissioners with bios from Wikipedia. No surprise that they didn't approve the full transfer.

Neil Chatterjee (R) - Current chair. Appointed by Trump in October 2018. Chatterjee previously served as energy policy advisor to United States Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

James Danly (R) - Appointed by Trump in 2020. Two spots were open when Danly was nominated. A nominee to fill a Democrat seat vacated after Cheryl LaFleur resigned was not made by Trump.

Bernard McNamee (R) - Appointed by Trump in 2018. He previously served in various state and federal legal and policy positions and practiced energy law in the private sector.

Richard Glick (D) - Appointed by Trump in 2017. Prior to assuming his current role, he was general counsel for Democrats on the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Glick was previously the head lobbyist for energy firm Avangrid. He also worked as an adviser to Bill Richardson when Richardson was serving as United States Secretary of Energy during Bill Clinton's presidency.

From the KRRC Press release:

“We are pleased that FERC has identified a pathway for the project to move forward. There is more work to be done, and we are working with our settlement partners on how to ensure a successful project. Our partners have indicated they remain committed to identifying a path to move forward.”