PACIFICORP FIGHTS FEDS' MANDATE TO LADDER KLAMATH DAMS, PROPOSES TRAP AND HAUL ALTERNATIVE

K a r u k T r i b e o f C a l i f o r n i a

P R E S S R E L E A S E


For Immediate Release: April 28, 2006

For more information: Craig Tucker, Media Spokesman, Karuk Tribe, 916-207-8294

PACIFICORP FIGHTS FEDS' MANDATE TO LADDER KLAMATH DAMS, PROPOSES TRAP AND HAUL ALTERNATIVE
Dam Removal Remains Best Option Say Tribes

Portland, OR - Today Portland based PacifiCorp filed an appeal to Federal Agencies’ mandate to construct ladders on the Klamath Dams. The filing comes amid fisheries closures that will cost Oregon and California millions in economic losses. The closures come in response to weak salmon returns on the Klamath River. Instead of ladders as mandated by the agencies, which the agencies had deemed necessary for success, PacifiCorp seeks to trap fall-run Chinook salmon at Iron Gate dam and drive them 80 miles to Klamath Falls, Oregon. PacifiCorp has not proposed passage for coho, steelhead, or lamprey eels.

“PacifiCorp’s plan is to relicense the dams on the cheap. Trap and haul will do little for Chinook salmon and do absolutely nothing to accommodate threatened Coho, steelhead or lamprey eel,” according Toz Soto, fisheries biologist for the Karuk Tribe. “And that means that their management of the river will continue to harm Native American people in the Klamath Basin.”

According to Karuk Tribe Vice-chairman Leaf Hillman, “Despite the fact that small fishing communities from Southern California to Northern Oregon are desperate to see Klamath salmon runs restored, PacifiCorp continues to fight effective restoration efforts.”

For over four years Tribes, fishermen, conservation organizations, agencies and farmers have been meeting with PacifiCorp to determine the fate of the Klamath dams. In March of 2004 PacifiCorp filed a license application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that failed to address the Tribes’ concerns over fish passage. “Since this relicensing process began, PacifiCorp has fought for status quo even though that spells disaster for Klamath communities” adds Hillman.

For the last two years, a coalition of Tribes, conservation groups and fishermen, have appealed to the shareholders of PacifiCorp’s parent company, Scottish Power, for help in solving the problem. The group sent emissaries to Scotland to attend and protest annual Scottish Power shareholder meetings, making headlines around the globe. According to Kelly Catlett, Hydropower Reform Advocate for Friends of the River, “In the end Scottish Power sold the problem instead of solving it.”

Recently the sale of PacifiCorp to Des Moines, Iowa based Mid-American Energy Holdings, Co. was completed. Mid-American is owned in turn by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Co.

“Those of us who live in the Klamath Basin are working together to bring the salmon home. We can find a way to manage the river so that fishermen can fish and farmers can farm, but PacifiCorp must become a partner in crafting the solution,” said Hillman.

Despite PacifiCorp’s decision to challenge the agencies’ call for fish ladders, the Tribes remain hopeful that PacifiCorp’s new President, William J. Fehrman, will act to change PacifiCorp’s approach. According to Hillman, “we understand that Mr. Fehrman needs time to better understand the situation, but he must realize that this is a struggle that the Tribes’ cannot afford to lose.”

The Tribes contend that even ladders will not fix some of the most serious problems on the river, including toxic algae and water temperature problems. “PacifiCorp’s Klamath dams are poor producers of electricity, provide little flood control, and do not divert water for agriculture or drinking. All they do well is kill fish and breed toxic blue green algae. They must be removed.” concludes Hillman.