[env-trinity] Karuk Tribe: FEDERAL AGENCIES ISSUE FINAL MANDATES FOR KLAMATH DAMS

[Josh Allen]

P R E S S R E L E A S E

 

KARUK TRIBE

 

For Immediate Release: January 30, 2007

 

Contact: Craig Tucker, Klamath Coordinator, Karuk Tribe, 530-627-3446

x3027

 

 

 

FEDERAL AGENCIES ISSUE FINAL MANDATES FOR KLAMATH DAMS

Feds mandate ladders; costs officially favor dam removal

 

Happy Camp, CA - Today, the Department of Interior and Commerce filed 

the final mandatory terms and conditions that must be met in order for 

PacifiCorp to relicense the Klamath Dams. Although the agencies do not 

have the authority under the Federal Power Act to mandate dam removal, 

they can and did mandate fishways and ladders. Klamath Basin Tribes and 

other dam removal advocates are pleased since the cost of the prescribed


ladders and fishways makes dam removal an economically favorable 

alternative to relicensing.

 

"We applaud the Departments of Commerce and Interior for fulfilling 

their obligation to protect and restore the Klamath River," said Leaf 

Hillman, Vice Chairman of the Karuk Tribe. "Now it's time for PacifiCorp


President Bill Fehrman to make good on his commitment to protect his 

ratepayers from higher costs and simply remove these fish killing dams."

 

Last August as members of the Karuk, Hoopa, Yurok and Klamath Tribes 

protested the international hydropower industry's symposium in Portland,


PacifiCorp President William Fehrman released a statement that concluded


with, "We have heard the Tribes' concerns. We are not opposed to dam 

removal or other settlement opportunities as long as our customers are 

not harmed and our property rights are respected."

 

In December the California Energy Commission and the U.S. Department of 

Interior filed an economic report with the Federal Energy Relicensing 

Commission which concluded that dam removal would be cheaper, by $100 

million, than relicensing. The analysis included the cost of replacing 

the electricity the dams generate with other currently available 

sources.

 

Last month PacifiCorp filed an alternative to the draft prescriptions in


an effort to water down the Department of Interior and Commerce's final 

mandates. According to Hillman, "PacifiCorp's trap and haul alternative 

was another attempt to duck their social responsibilities. I commend 

Secretaries Kempthorne and Guiterrez for seeing through their charade." 

Hillman concludes, "If Bill Fehrman still refuses to remove the dams, he


will be guilty of gouging ratepayers to the benefit of Warren Buffett 

and other wealthy investors. He will also be complicit in the genocide 

of the Native People of the Klamath Basin."

 

Capital improvement costs to power projects such as dams are often 

billed to ratepayers with a regulated rate of return for investors. 

"Even though the cost of ladders exceeds the cost of dam removal, 

PacifiCorp may attempt to bill ratepayers for the added cost and at the 

same time earn a rate of return for investors," according to Craig 

Tucker, Ph.D., Relicensing Coordinator for the Karuk Tribe. The Public 

Utility Commissions of California and Oregon would have to approve such 

a move.

 

Historically, the Klamath River was one of the three most productive 

salmon rivers in America. Today, dams and diversions have decimated 

salmon populations leading to strict limits on commercial salmon fishing


up and down the west coast in 2006. Tribes, fishermen, and 

environmentalists see dam removal as a fundamental step towards 

restoring the Klamath's fishery.

 

Governors Schwarzenegger and Kulongoski plan to host a Dam Removal 

Summit in early March to discuss how the dam removal factors in a basin 

wide agreement to address the concerns of Tribes, fishermen, and 

irrigators.

 

 

# # #

 

For more information and previous press releases log on to: 

http://www.karuk.us/press%20&%20campaigns/press.php 

 

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