[env-trinity] SF Chronicle Editorial - Klamath February 6 2007

[Byron]

EDITORIAL 


Take down the dams


Tuesday, February 6, 2007

 FOR YEARS, Indian tribes, conservationists and fishing groups have argued
that removing four power dams blocking the headwaters of the Klamath River
would reverse the losses of once-plentiful salmon. 

Free flows of cold water are what the fish need, and the fearsome foursome
of dams near the Oregon border were major impediments. 

Now the federal bureaucracy has joined the chorus in a roundabout way. As a
result, taking down the barriers has never been closer. 

Because the dams need new licenses to operate, federal agencies have taken a
long look. The results aren't pretty for the dam operator, PacificCorp,
owned by billionaire philanthropist Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway
Corp. 

To keep the dams humming, Commerce and Interior agencies now want $300
million in fish ladders and screens. This price tag may be too high for
PacificCorp, which cranks out only enough power to light 70,000 homes. 

A miracle lies within reach. One of the country's biggest dam removal
projects could begin, affording a chance at returning surging waters not
seen for almost a century. Easing this change is the fact that Washington
controls most of the land along the river course, and no major city lies
downstream. Taking out other dams on big rivers won't be this easy. 

Much remains to complete the dam demolition dream. Sediment behind the dam
walls must be considered. Other tolls on the Klamath's health such as timber
cuts, farm diversions and human building should be weighed. 

But an amazing change is suddenly attainable. The dams that have plagued a
once-mighty salmon river may come down. A river's past could be restored.

Byron Leydecker

Friends of Trinity River, Chair

California Trout, Inc., Advisor

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810

415 383 9562 fax

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org (secondary)

http://www.fotr.org

http://www.caltrout.org

 

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