[env-trinity] Sen. Chesbro, Hoopa Tribe Want Hearing On Klamath Dams' Sale

[Daniel Bacher]

Hoopa Valley Tribe, Senator Chesbro Want Hearing On Klamath Dams Sale

by Dan Bacher

The Hoopa Valley Tribe, State Senator Wes Chesbro and Assemblywoman Patty 
Berg are asking the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to deny a 
request to eliminate a public hearing on ownership transfer of hydropower 
dams on the Klamath River.

MidAmerican Energy, owned by billionaire investor Warren Buffet, is 
proposing to purchase PacifiCorp, which currently owns six dams on the 
Klamath River, in a landmark deal. PacifiCorp is owned by Scottish Power, a 
multi-national energy company headquartered in Edinburgh Scottland.

The tribe is at the forefront of a growing movement of Native American, 
fishing groups and environmental organizations that are concerned 
MidAmerican Energy may not have the inclination or sufficient resources to 
make fish restoration improvements at the aging dams.

Four Klamath River tribes – the Hoopa, Yurok, Karuk and Klamath – returned 
from their second trip to Scotland this July. Although they talked with 
Scottish Power leaders and attended the annual shareholders meeting, they 
received no commitment from Scottish Power to remove the Klamath dams to 
provide for passage for salmon and steelhead to return to their historical 
habitat.

"The Hoopa Valley Tribe is not opposed to the sale per se," said Hoopa 
Tribal Chairman Clifford Lyle Marshall. "We just want to make sure that an 
opportunity is not lost for Californians to ensure that salmon passage 
around these dams is established and maintained to accommodate the needs of 
the Klamath River."

In at letter to the PUC on September 1, Senator Wes Chesbro said, “It does 
not serve any public interest to actually prevent public scrutiny of this 
pending sale, which will affect ratepayers in six states, including 
California.”

PacifiCorp owns and operates three “highly controversial dams” on the 
California side of the Klamath River (Iron Gate Dam, CopCo 1 and CopCo 2) 
that block passage for salmon, steelhead and other species, causing serious 
water quality problems for the river that has contributed to high levels of 
salmon mortality, according to Chesbro.

“The impact of these dams, and the consequent loss of salmon in the river, 
has been and remains an enormous problem for members of the Yurok, Hoopa 
Valley and Karuk Tribes, for many in-river businesses and for 
salmon-dependent fishing communities throughout Northern California, 
including ports far down the California coastline,” Chesbro stated,

In an Aug. 17 formal protest to Judge Timothy Kenney, the tribe's counsel, 
Tom Schlosser, noted, "The Klamath Hydroelectric Project blocks 300 miles of 
historic anadromous fish habitat and its operations have a significant 
adverse effect on resident fish both within and downstream of the project."

The lower Klamath River in September 2002 was the scene of the largest fish 
kill in U.S. history. Over 68,000 salmon died because of a Bush 
administration change in water policy that gave water to subsidized 
agribusiness in the Klamath Basin while denying the water to downstream 
users and fish. The fish, most of them destined for the Trinity, died 
because of the outbreak of disease in low, warm water conditions.

During that spring, over 200,000 juvenile salmon also died in a disease 
outbreak spurred by warm water.

"The power companies' request to not have a public hearing on this transfer 
of ownership is a denial of the public's the right to comment on many 
complex issues," said Marshall. "The law has changed significantly since the 
Klamath Project was built in l917 and licensed in l956. During these years 
the dams have diminished the salmon populations. There should be a public 
hearing to learn how future owners will protect the river's habitat and the 
salmon because decisions made today will affect the Klamath River for 
decades, and generations of Indian people."

Besides dam removal, Marshall said that other issues that need to be aired 
in a public hearing include water quality in Siskiyou, Del Norte and other 
northern California counties; power rates and subsidies; income generation 
and tax bases of the counties; and the health of the tribal, commercial and 
recreational fisheries.

“The Klamath salmon population drives the commercial fishing regulations on 
the entire West Coast from Alaska to Mexico,” said Marshall. “Recreational 
fishing and rafting on the Klamath, Trinity and their tributaries also 
contribute greatly to the North Coast economy.”

California’s commercial salmon season was slashed approximately 50 percent 
this year, due to the state, federal and tribal biologists’ projection of a 
record low return of salmon to the Trinity and Klamath rivers this year, a 
direct result of the Department of Interior-engineered juvenile and adult 
fish kills of 2002. Although scientists projected a record abundance of 
nearly 1.7 million Sacramento River chinooks this season, the commercial 
boats were restricted from fishing for them because the Central Valley and 
Klamath stocks mix together on the ocean.

Recreational anglers and tribal fishermen are also currently under draconian 
catch quotas resulting from Interior’s abysmal management of the Klamath 
system.

PacifiCorp and MidAmerican Energy Holding Company asked the PUC for a 
blanket exemption from the PUC approval provisions of California Public 
Utilities Commission Section 854(a) for a major pending utility sale – 
trying to bypass the public in the deal.

The utilities contend that the impact on California is minimal, but Tom 
Schlosser, tribal counsel, sees it differently. “These inefficient and aging 
dams may only provide a small portion of California's energy grid, but the 
environmental impact on the rivers is huge. To allow this sale without 
giving Californians a chance to comment is unconscionable,” he emphasized.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is currently reviewing 
PacifiCorp's 50-year-old license, due to expire in February of 2006.

Scottish Power obtained shareholder approval of the sale on July 22, 2005.  
“The company anticipates closing the transaction in the first quarter of 
2006,” said Allan Urlis, spokesman for MidAmerican Energy.
The sale must be approved not only by the California PUC, but also by the 
Idaho Public Utilities Commission, Oregon Public Utility Commission, Utah 
Public Service Commission, Washington Utilities and Transportation 
Commission, Wyoming Public Service Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“We’re not saying that Warren Buffet is a bad guy and shouldn’t buy Scottish 
Power and PacifiCorp; the purchase might be really good for the Klamath and 
Trinity,” concluded Marshall. “However, if Buffet’s company is going to buy 
Scottish Power, we need to hear the company’s positions on fish passage and 
other issues. That’s what a public hearing is for.”