PacifiCorp – the Buffett-Berkshire Hathaway company which owns and operates the Klamath Hydroelectric Project – is in confidential negotiations with the federal Department of Interior and the States of California and Oregon concerning the fate of the Project and its five dams. Word has come from inside the talks that an “agreement in principle” to remove four of the five dams will come by the end of September.
PacifiCorp recently indicated a willingness to
abandon its quest for a new hydropower license when it withdrew its application
to the California Water Quality Control Board seeking the required certification
of the Project as complying with water quality standards. Water quality
specialists believe the Klamath Hydroelectric Project can not be legally
certified as compliant with the standards because it makes the poor quality
water it receives much worse. While the press has focused on toxic algae
produced in the reservoirs, it is the standards for temperature and nutrients
which the dams’ discharges can not meet. Water quality standards for toxic
algae have not been established by the State of California.
An aspect of Klamath politics which the media has not
covered is how tribes, fishing groups and environmental organizations came to
be excluded from negotiations which will decide the dams’ fate. The exclusion –
reportedly insisted upon by PacifiCorp – was made possible by the
strategy championed by the California Hydropower Reform Coalition and adopted
by tribes, fishing and local environmental groups.
The California Hydropower Reform Coalition strategy called for
negotiations with PacifiCorp early in the relicensing process. But if the
dam removal coalition had waited for and challenged in court government
decisions approving PacifiCorp’s license application, PacifiCorp, the
feds and states would not have been able to exclude them from the negotiations concerning their fate. California Hydropower Reform Coalition
groups leading the Klamath dam removal effort are American
Rivers, Trout
Unlimited and Friends of the River.
Independent hydropower experts suspect that PacifiCorp
intended to abandon the Klamath Hydroelectric Project all along. The
company’s Klamath dams and powerhouses are old and obsolete. Profitability is
marginal now and will decrease if the dams are relicensed because of new flow
requirements for fish. But if the company abandoned the license on its own
initiative PacifiCorp would be solely responsible for removing the dams
and powerhouses it owns and for all related liability. Instead it is believed
that the deal now being negotiated with the feds and states will provide the
company – and investor Warren Buffett – with a low or no cost way out of
the Klamath Project. Look for the federal government to take over
removing the dams and for the company to be relieved from liability associated
not only with dam removal but also with those old powerhouses and any related
toxic legacies.
Meanwhile the fate of a Klamath River
Water Deal negotiated by many of the same players remains in limbo. If a
dam removal deal is reached we can expect promoters of the Water Deal to
renew efforts to tie that controversial deal to dam removal. The
vehicle would be federal legislation. Legislation will be needed to provide the
funds necessary to remove the dams. But the proposed Water Deal would
require coming up with an additional $1 billion. Tying that deal to dam
removal is likely to make passage of legislation to remove the dams more
difficult. Furthermore, with key groups in his district opposing the Water
Deal, Congressman Mike Thompson may not be willing to carry
legislation which includes both costly dam decommissioning and the
controversial Water Deal.
The complex and convoluted Klamath politics described above
defies the simplistic interpretations which have been promoted by some of the
players and parroted in many of the media reports which have appeared on the
topic. Like all western water politics, Klamath water politics is often more
than it would seem on the surface and much more than what is reported in the
media.
There are yet more twists to the story than I have provided
above. But those will have to wait for another day and another post.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
