Federal agency suggests keeping Klamath dams

REDDING -- Indian tribes, farmers and commercial salmon fishermen are blasting a federal regulator’s recommendation Friday that four PacifiCorp hydroelectric dams remain on the Klamath River.

The decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Grants Pass, Ore., sided with the utility and ignored calls from fishery agencies to build costly fish ladders. The final environmental impact statement from the commission’s staff recommended trapping and hauling fish around the dams rather than building ladders and reducing power production to help salmon.

The recommendation comes as a variety of groups are meeting in Redding to discuss the issue. The groups include Indian tribes hoping to restore the salmon runs that once sustained their cultures, Klamath Basin farmers who need cheap power and water for irrigation, and California commercial salmon fishermen suffering dramatic cutbacks in fishing seasons from declining Klamath River salmon runs.

They are seeking a deal to remove the dams with state and federal help.

Craig Tucker, Klamath campaign director for the Karuk Tribe, had harsh words for the recommendation: “FERC staff is pandering to PacifiCorp’s bottom line, where it is cheaper for everybody and avoids an environmental catastrophe and the destruction of tribal cultures to simply remove the dams.”

Participants in the Redding meeting said they were near an agreement that will be presented to PacifiCorp. The utility has said it would be willing to remove the dams if the move doesn’t hurt its customers. It also is willing to spend $300 million on fish ladders and other required improvements to keep the dams, which produce power without emitting the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.