Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington State.
In 1999, Pacific Power, environmental groups and the Yakama Nation reached a landmark agreement to remove the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River.
More than a decade later, the dam is still there.
The delays are frustrating the Gifford Pinchot Task Force, which recently warned members that time is running out if the dam is going to be removed this year.
And here’s what it says you can do to help.
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.
If the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River is removed on schedule next year, it will mean the river will be free flowing for the first time in almost a century. Salmon and steelhead will regain access to more than 30 miles of upriver habitat and their populations will most likely increase.
And for people who fish the river? Here’s some good news. Removing the dam will mean lower mercury levels in the salmon and steelhead, perhaps making them safer to eat.
Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington State.
That’s one of the conclusions in a new Environmental Impact Statement on removing the dam. This is the second time an EIS has been conducted on the project. The first one had to be tossed out because testing of the sediment that’s building up behind the dam found levels of mercury that were higher than anyone expected. The big question, what would happen if the dam was breached and all that mercury was sent down the river?
Washington’s Department of Ecology came up with this answer. In the short run, mercury levels in the White Salmon would spike to levels that are unsafe for aquatic life and humans for a period of roughly 20 to 50 days.
But over the long run, DOE says releasing all that sediment will make it less likely for the mercury to accumulate in fish in the river. A lot of it would be flushed out to the Columbia River where it would be too diluted to pose a threat. What remains behind would be deposited in areas where fish and other aquatic life don’t go.
The Condit Dam is scheduled to removed starting in October of 2010. It’s owned by Pacfic Power, which is still seeking the permits needed to take out the dam.
This new Environmental Impact Statement is still a draft. You can read the whole report on the Washington Department of Ecology website. The department is accepting public comments until July 20.
