Klamath Riverkeeper Files RCRA Lawsuit Against Warren Buffett's PacifiCorp

Press Release

For immediate release: December 5, 2007
Contacts: Regina Chichizola, Klamath Riverkeeper (541) 951-0126
Daniel Cooper, Lawyers for Clean Water, Inc. (415) 440-6520 x204
Kevin Madonna, Kennedy & Madonna, LLP (845) 331-7514


LEGAL PROBLEMS MULTIPLY FOR PACIFICORP AT KLAMATH DAMS:
KLAMATH RIVERKEEPER FILES RCRA LAWSUIT
IN FEDERAL COURT

San Francisco, CA- A lawsuit filed today by Klamath Riverkeeper accuses PacifiCorp, Inc., a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire- Hathaway corporation, with endangering human health and the environment in the Klamath River.

The complaint alleges that annual blooms of the toxic algae Microcystis aeruginosa and its by-product the toxin microcystin, generated by the Copco and Iron Gate Dams, are discharged to reservoirs and the Klamath River. This discharge has serious consequences for both the environment and human health.

The deadly toxin is absent upstream of PacifiCorp’s Copco and Iron Gate dams and reservoirs, but has been found downstream at levels nearly 4,000 times what is considered safe for recreational contact by the World Heath Organization. The lawsuit will demonstrate that the toxic algae is a solid waste created by PacifiCorp’s damming of the Klamath River, and that PacifiCorp is illegally discharging the waste in violation of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

This year the algal toxin led water quality officials to post warnings the length of the river during the peak salmon fishing season. “The algae blooms and the resulting discharge of toxins downstream would not occur but for PacifiCorp damming the Klamath River,” stated Regina Chichizola, the Klamath Riverkeeper. “With this lawsuit we will stop PacifiCorp from generating and releasing toxic waste that threatens the health of Klamath Riverkeeper’s members, the general public, and the environment.”

Joseph Cotchett, Lawyers for Clean Water, and Robert Kennedy Jr. filed a lawsuit during Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholder meeting last spring on behalf of Klamath River users. The diverse group of Klamath River fishermen, Tribal members, Tribal religious leaders and recreational businesses claimed the dams are creating a nuisance, which PacifiCorp is liable for. This past summer a federal judge refused to grant PacifiCorp’s motion to dismiss the suit.

This new lawsuit comes just days after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Final Environmental Impact Study on the re-licensing of the Klamath dams. In effect, the FEIS is a recommendation by staff to FERC commissioners for what to include in a new dam license. Their recommendations failed to include the mandatory terms and conditions set for by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

“FERC staff failed to make recommendations that comply with federal law,” explains Craig Tucker, Klamath Coordinator for the Karuk Tribe. “A new license will have to include the mandatory conditions prescribed by the federal wildlife agencies, this means fish ladders and increased flows between the dams. Alternatively FERC could choose the cheaper option – dam removal.”

The FEIS compares the agency mandates for ladders to dam removal and finds dam removal to save ratepayers $7 million a year for the next 30 years. This is consistent with a recent California Energy Commission study that also found that dam removal would save ratepayers millions.

“PacifiCorp continues to cause the same wide scale poverty and disease for Klamath River residents and downstream communities that Buffett claims to be committed to fighting in the third world," stated lead attorney Daniel Cooper. “It's high time for PacifiCorp to take responsibility for the destruction of one of America’s greatest rivers.”


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For more information log on to:
http://www.klamathriver.org/

Also see:
http://www.salmonforsavings.com
http://www.ferc.gov