Government Affairs
Restoration of the Klamath River Salmon Populations
The Issue
The Klamath River was once home to one of the most robust salmon runs in the western U.S. Since the first dam was erected in 1908, the salmon and steelhead have borne the brunt of water disputes in the region. The impact of the dams and other water uses in the Klamath valley closed salmon fishing along 700 miles of the Oregon‐California coast.
In August 2006, the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and 11 other conservation groups requested that PacifiCorp, the energy provider that owns the four lower dams on California’s Klamath River, remove the dams. This initiative was sparked by PacifiCorp’s application for renewal of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) permits for the dams.
Beginning in 2006, 29 organizations, agencies and tribal councils engaged in discussions to remove the four most seaward dams on the Klamath River that block salmon and steelhead runs. The group, comprised of electric utilities, state and federal government agencies, commercial fishermen, recreational anglers, farmers, native tribes and environmental groups, worked in mediated sessions under a confidentially agreement in an effort to find a way to remove the four dams.
The Outcome
In November 2008, PacifiCorp agreed to decommission and remove the dams. On September 30, 2009, the 29 parties in the confidential discussions signed a draft agreement regarding the dams’ removal. Before actual dam removal can take place, the Secretary of the Interior must confirm, by March 31, 2012, that the removals are in the public interest.
When confirmation occurs, PacifiCorp will transfer title of the dams to the federal government, which will oversee their removal. This historic agreement will open up more than 300 miles of habitat for Klamath salmon and steelhead populations and eliminate water quality problems caused by the dams’ reservoirs in a river that was once the nation’s third-largest salmon producer.
For more information, please read the Restoration of the Klamath River Salmon Populations briefing paper.
Our Position
ASA supported the efforts of the California and Oregon state governments, the federal government and other affected parties to reach an equitable settlement that will both restore the river and protect the interests of PacifiCorp and its ratepayers.
Although agricultural interests withdraw water further upstream of these dams, these four dams are not used for agricultural withdrawals.
ASA actively participated in this effort in coordination with other agencies and organizations. ASA garnered support from 11 other national conservation and sportfishing groups and sent letters to the editors of major newspapers as well as to outdoor journalists and sportfishing trade publications. These same organizations signed a letter to Warren Buffett, CEO, whose firm Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. owns the controlling interest in MidAmerican, PacifiCorp's parent corporation, asking for his support in decommissioning and removing the dams. Representatives from these organizations also met with William J. Fehrman, president of PacifiCorp Energy, to discuss removal of the dams.
Background Information
The Klamath River extends from Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon to the Pacific Ocean in California. It is the third largest river in the western United States and was once the third most productive river for Pacific salmon.
The electric company PacifiCorp owns the four most seaward Klamath River dams. The 50-year FERC licenses for these dams – Iron Gate, Copco 1 and 2, and J.C. Boyle – expired in 2006 and PacifiCorp applied for renewal of all four. During the application process, California, Oregon and the federal government worked with PacifiCorp and other settlement partners to try to come to an agreement that would allow for the decommissioning and eventual removal of the dams while fairly accommodating the needs of PacifiCorp and its rate payers. Decommissioning and removal is the best option for the future of this river system and its fisheries.
The dams completely block access to over three hundred miles of salmon spawning grounds in the Klamath River. As a result, the Klamath Coho salmon is listed as threatened and the Chinook salmon is subject to very severe harvest restrictions. These restrictions have had severe economic and social repercussions along the coastal areas and for the tribes that have treaty rights to a portion of the fishery. In 2006, the commercial salmon harvest in California and Oregon was so severely restricted that the resulting economic hardship prompted U. S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gutierrez to declare a Commercial Fishery Failure. Unless measures are taken to allow more fish spawning access, the remaining salmon populations will continue to struggle to survive.
A development came in November 2007 when FERC issued a final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) showing that the removal of the lower four Klamath River dams would save ratepayers $7 million dollars a year. Despite this finding, FERC still recommended keeping PacifiCorp's four hydroelectric dams. The final EIS from FERC selected trapping and hauling fish around the dams rather than building fish ladders and reducing power production to help salmon. FERC’s statement described the decision as the best economic choice while allowing for evaluation of restoring fish to the upper Klamath Basin. This decision ignored calls from fisheries agencies to build fish ladders. However, the recommendation was not legally feasible, since NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service requires that fish passage provisions be included in dam licenses.
Agriculture and Hydropower Take Their Toll
Agriculture and hydropower play key roles in the current decline of the river and its salmon habitat.
Beginning in the early 1900s, agriculture expanded in the Klamath Basin, with support from the Bureau of Reclamation, diverting more and more water for irrigation. In 1917, Copco, the predecessor to PacifiCorp, sought to build hydropower dams in the Klamath. The upstream agricultural interests claimed the rights to the water, and approval of the dams was based on the provision of discounted power to farmers.
The four hydropower dams were built between 1917 and 1962. In addition to providing discounted power to agricultural interests, they generated additional power for sale. The income generated by the dams is only one percent of PacifiCorp's power generation and an even smaller part of its parent corporation, MidAmerican Electric Holding Company.
Since 1956, when the dam licenses were last renewed, laws have been passed to protect natural resources. Environmental protection is now a central tenet of American public policy. In order to keep the dams and meet the requirements of the law, extensive mitigation measures at the dams would be required as a condition of license renewal. Accomplishing modifications of these dams would require a substantial commitment of resources, and yet would not restore the free run of the river, providing the greatest benefit to the resource.
ASA believes that the recent agreement provides the best possible solution, for both the resource and area ratepayers.
