Riverkeeper supports dam removal settlement package, for now

Please find press release below and attached.

Klamath Riverkeeper Press Release | For Immediate Release

Contact: Erica Terence, Klamath Riverkeeper, office: (530) 627-3311, cell: (530)340-5415, erica [at] klamathriver.org

January 07, 2009

Riverkeeper supports dam removal settlement package, for now
Grassroots group vows to watchdog implementation to ensure dams are removed

Orleans, CA--Klamath Riverkeeper, the group that pressured PacifiCorp to remove its Klamath dams in court and on the streets of Portland and Omaha, has decided to support the controversial Klamath settlement package headed for legislation, at least for now.

Riverkeeper Erica Terence said, "Our analysis shows the settlement is the most workable and realistic way to get the dams out, and poses an innovative way to deal with the historic over-allocation of water in the basin."

But Terence cautioned that the agreements may only succeed in removing the dams if groups outside the negotiations, like Riverkeeper, continue to watchdog and apply pressure to the process, including using legal action if necessary. Terence noted that enforcement pressure applied with the Clean Water Act pushed PacifiCorp towards a negotiated settlement in the first place.

“Major Clean Water Act regulations are still being decided on the Klamath River whose outcomes will determine how much incentive PacifiCorp has to stick with the settlement agreements,” Terence added.

While Klamath Riverkeeper supports full approval and funding for the settlement, the nonprofit river protection group will not sign the agreements, and will go on using grassroots and legal action to advocate ecologically-based water management and regulations from the headwaters to the mouth of the river.

This settlement will change the regulatory landscape by transferring authority for the hydro-electric project from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to the U.S. Department of Interior, according to Terence.

Even if the settlement package is approved in Congress, the agreements will need to undergo environmental review, clean water permitting, completion of a drought plan, implementation of interim water cleanup measures, revision of agency rules about what's needed to protect endangered species, public utilities commission approval, final federal approval and the ugly fight over a California bond with money for the dam removal project. Klamath Riverkeeper claims grassroots advocacy will be instrumental in making sure the integrity of these processes is upheld over the next 10 years, and that scheduled deconstruction takes place in 2020.

"Klamath Riverkeeper still has a lot of work ahead to ensure dam removal actually happens, and that clean water and other environmental laws are followed," Terence added. "Our coalition has been pressuring regulators and PacifiCorp to remove the Klamath dams for the last decade and we’ll continue that pressure for the following decade."

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