Judging by the love fest inside the Capitol Rotunda this morning, it’s hard to imagine that the Klamath water wars ever existed.
The room was filled with smiles, applause and some humor courtesy of Governor Schwarzenegger.
Schwarzenegger joked it was finally time to say, “Hasta la vista to the dams.” The crowd ate it up.
THURSDAY:
Klamath Basin Agreements
Decades of fighting over water, salmon and dams in the Klamath Basin could come to a close Thursday in Salem. Governor Kulongoski, Governor Schwarzenegger and Interior Secretary Salazar will take part in a ceremony to sign two agreements that are designed to make sure there’s enough water for farming and salmon, while laying out a plan to remove four dams from the Klamath River,
Despite the historic nature of the agreements, they’re unpopular with Oregon’s environmental community. Oregon Wild says the deals don’t do enough to protect salmon, and allow farming on two wildlife refuges.
The ceremony is Thursday morning in the Rotunda of the Capitol in Salem.
After years of negotiations some 30 groups representing state, federal and local governments, as well as tribes, agriculture, fishing groups, and conservationists, have released a historic deal for sharing water in the Klamath Basin.
The goals are lofty, finding a way to make sure there’s enough water for fish, irrigation, local communities and area wildlife refuges.
The Copco 1 Dam on the Klamath River. Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
It’s tied to another deal on removing dams from the Klamath River. The four dams, currently owned and operated Pacific Power, have cut off salmon and steelhead from 300 miles of traditional habitat.
The stakes are high.
Poor salmon runs on the Klamath River have contributed to some of the recent commercial fishing closures of the coasts of Oregon and California in recent years.
And if these plans work, they could serve as an example of what dam breaching could do to help salmon recover in other parts of the region. Think of those four dams on the Lower Snake River.
The Copco 1 Dam on the Klamath River. Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
Several environmental groups are coming together with a new proposal for removing four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River in Oregon and California.
It’s response to an earlier agreement announced in September by the Interior Department. While that agreement laid the foundation for dam removal, many environmental groups were not satisfied with it.
Today’s proposal is designed to move things along much, much faster.
The new coalition is calling itself the Klamath Conservation Partners, and here’s what it’s proposing.
Here’s a tantalizing headline from the Interior Department.
Secretary Ken Salazar says a final agreement to manage water in the Klamath River Basin, and to remove hydropower dams from the river, is “within reach”. All we need, according to Salazar, is “one more push” and the agreement could be finalized by the end of summer.
Along with today’s bold prediction, comes an announcement that the deadline to reach that agreement was extended from June 30 to September.
Copco 2 dam. Photo Courtesy State of California
If Salazar is right, this could bring to a close one of the ugliest fights over water in the west. Removing the four hydropower dams would be the largest dam breaching project in U.S. history, and the Klamath River could regain its position as one of the mighty salmon producing rivers along the Pacific.
But considering how long it’s taken to get to this point, you can’t blame environment groups for feeling skeptical. Oregon Wild posted a statement about the missed June 30th deadline with concerns that talks could drag on for years. The posting was made before today’s announcement.
But the group’s Conservation Director Steve Pedrey seemed to have a premonition of it when he said, “If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard backers of this deal say that a final agreement is ‘right around the corner,’ I’d have enough money to pay for dam removal myself.”
Oregon Wild has been critical of the overall agreement, saying it guarantees water supply for agriculture, but has no guarantees for salmon. It also says the deal will hurt the Lower Klamath Lake and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges by giving agriculture the right to farm on 22,000 acres of refuge land for 50 years. During dry years, the farmers will have first rights to the water, and there may not be enough left over for the thousands of birds and other wildlife who call these areas home.
Another piece of the agreement is that Pacific Power, which owns the four hydropower dams, doesn’t want to have to pay for their removal. The costs will be passed on to residents of Oregon and California. In our state, the legislature recently agreed to increase electricty bills for Pacific Power customers by 2% to help pay for dam removal.
