PacifiCorp To Remove Four Dams On Klamath River In California & Oregon.

Good to hear!!!! I live about 2 miles south of the Klamath river in Yreka, CA and this has been going on for years, every one here seems to be for it. I am glad that it has finally gone through

This is a horrible precedent.

What will those nearly free sources of carbon-free power be replaced with?

Slightly more expensive coal plants or far more expensive wind plants?

Have these people never heard of fish ladders?

This is NOT horrible, the article clearly states that the amount of power produced by the dams is extremely minimal, while its negative impacts are Extreme, and terrible for the ecology of the river. Did you read the article? The fish species have been devasted, not to mention altered flow regimes affecting the entire ecosystem, creating toxix reservoirs and not to mention public safety issues due to the age of the structures and potential destruction due to a dam breach. These dam are old, destructive and must be removed. There are hundreds of better options for non-destructive renewable power generation.

So they are going to rip up a carbon free renewable to be replaced using "using renewables and efficiency measures, without contributing to global warming." Sounds pretty vague to me

build FISH LADDERS ! the fish can use them to go over the dams. no problem for the fish. so why are they not built?
too inconvenient for the coal lobby hm?

the environmental movement is strange. On one hand you have the environmentalists that only think about technology, humans needs, and power efficiency. They ignore the other aspects such as protecting non-human life, human life, and try to protect the environment by shallow acts of installing solar power, or dams while at the same time may be destroying the environment they are trying to protect. The environmental movement is not about technology.

This deal is opposed by conservation groups like Oregon Wild, WaterWatch, and NorthCoast Environmental Center. This is a bad deal but not because of the lost power (which is minimal), rather because dam removal comes with some very nasty strings attached, such as huge subsidies for agribusiness and perpetual industrial agriculture on NATIONAL REFUGES in the Klamath Basin. It's far from a done deal, and it's one of those dumb ideas that Bush & Co. are trying to push through in a hurry before he leaves office. The better solution is to remove the dams, AND restore the refuges for wildlife instead of farming. We don't have to choose between the two. For more go here: http://oregonwild.org/rivers_clean_water/restoring_balance_klamath_basin

I happen to work in the electric utility industry in the PNW and our big old dams are our greatest resource. After the first 20 years or so, they have been completely paid off and their only ongoing costs are maintenance - which are quite nearly zero.

I can't imagine how Pacificorp could possibly convince anyone that energy from these dams is expensive.

As for their environmental impact, their operations are very tightly regulated to minimize negative impacts and sometimes produce a positive environmental impact.

I don't know what the real story is, but I can see no reason to believe that the local economies or the environment will benefit from this deal.

First off I would like to thank treehugger.com for covering an important issue. However I find serious problems both with the original post and the subsequent comments left by users. First the post makes no mention of the fact that these dams are helping to perpetuate the cultural and physical genocide of Northern California Indian tribes like the Yurok. The most needs to offer some coverage of this because the extinction of an entire people is the biggest issue connected to the removal of the dams. Second users Seth Daniels and Michael both remark on using fish ladders on these dams so that a green source of energy is not removed. Saying quite pointedly "Have these people never heard of fish ladders?" and "build FISH LADDERS ! the fish can use them to go over the dams. no problem for the fish." I feel that both posters as well as the last poster Doug who writes "I don't know what the real story is, but I can see no reason to believe that the local economies or the environment will benefit from this deal." really miss the point behind the removal of the dams. First off Seth and Michael the issue about the fish has nothing to do with fish ladders. It has everything to do with the fact that the toxic algae that the dams are the sole cause of are killing the salmon. The toxic algae helped to cause a devastating gill rot disease that killed over 70,000 fish just a few years ago. Fish ladders are not the solution as the algae that is causing much of the problems for the fish and that has made the river unsafe for the Yurok tribe to use would remain. To Doug the dams threaten the economy of the Yurok tribe as many members of the tribe depend on the fish not only as a food source but also for money as they sell their excess fish. Tribal members also work as river guides for commercial fisherman, my great grandfather did this for many years. The local economy also is dependent on the commercial fishermen who come to fish for salmon from around the country every year. Without the fish these people will no longer come an their money will disappear from the local economy.