Federal report boosts plan to remove 4 dams on California river

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal regulators on Friday issued a final environmental impact statement that supports the demolition of four massive dams on Northern California’s Klamath River to save imperiled migratory salmon.

The staff's recommendation, which largely echoes an earlier draft opinion, tees up a vote on the roughly $500 million project by the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission later this year.

The removal of the four hydroelectric dams on the lower Klamath River — one in southern Oregon and three in California — would be the largest dam demolition project in U.S. history.

The aging dams near the Oregon-California border were built before current environmental regulations and essentially cut the 253-mile-long (407-kilometer-long) river in half for migrating salmon. Migratory salmon have been hit hard by warming waters and low river flows caused by severe drought and competition for water with agricultural interests.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/federal-report-boosts-plan-to-remove-4-dams-on-calif-river/ar-AA1195iN

[2naSalit]

1. Then they can do the same with...

The four dams on the lower Snake River.

[hunter]

2. This is an epic story for the history books.

The dams were owned by PacifiCorp and had become more of a liability than an asset.

After a major fish kill in 2002 pressure to remove the dams intensified.

Pacificorp was bought by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway in 2006.

PacifCorp tried to slither out of any responsibility for the dams when it became clear they were a liability. Yurok tribal lawyer Amy Cordalis took the fight against the dams directly to Buffet's doorstep, negotiating an agreement in which Pacifcorp will pay most of the removal costs.

Here's a link to an article about Cordalis from 2018:

How a Yurok lawyer from Oregon led her tribe's fight over Klamath Basin's future, and past

https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2018/06/how_a_yurok_tribal_lawyer_from.html

This has been a long difficult struggle, starting when white settlers first came to the Klamath River, killing off 75% of the native population by disease, starvation, and violence.

If you break the ecosystems that sustain people they die.

We should all take note of that as we ourselves destroy the ecosystems that sustain us. This dam removal is one step forward amidst many steps back. It will benefit everyone in the long run, even the people who oppose it.