Dams to be removed to assist salmon and Indian treaty rights
October 7th, 2009
Under a historic settlement, PacifiCorp plans to remove four dams on the Klamath River under a tentative agreement with tribes and other parties.
PacifiCorp will continue to operate the dams until 2020. But after that, the agreement calls for the Interior Department to decommission their removal.
“I cannot adequately say how impressed I am by everyone’s ability to put aside their differences,” Karuk Tribe spokesperson Craig Tucker told The San Francisco Chronicle. “There is a long history of not getting along, of fighting over water rights. Now we are optimistic.”
Tribes in northern California and southern Oregon lobbied PacifiCorp to remove the dams. They blame dwindling runs of salmon on the lack of water in the Klamath basin.
Utility agrees to removal of 4 Klamath River dams (The Los Angeles Times 9/30)
