Editorial: ‘Undamming’ Dams Hot Topic In Pacific Northwest

Efforts to “undam” or demolish dams don’t find their way into this column, usually, unless the rivers are commercially navigable, i.e., if there is barge traffic in the area. That is true in the case of the Snake River dams in the Pacific Northwest.

There are ongoing efforts presently to evaluate four Klamath River dams in southern Oregon, with an eye to demolishing the structures and, with them, the hydroelectric mechanisms that produce power. The heart of the matter revolves around benefits derived from power production as they compare to benefits to be derived from restoring the river and the salmon. The Klamath runs south into California. According to the California Energy Commission staff, “The Klamath River is one of the two most important remaining salmon rivers in California, providing significant habitat through most of its length for endangered runs of Chinook and coho salmon and steelhead trout.”

PacifiCorp Energy, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, owns the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath in Oregon. The company currently is trying to get relicensed. The present license was issued 30 years ago, says the Energy Commission, at a time when we knew far less about the environment and environmental impacts.

Several Indian tribes want the dams removed. A federal administrative judge has ruled that PacifiCorp should spend an estimated $220 million to install fish ladders. As for the Energy Commission, its comments indicate that the licensing agency should definitely consider eliminating one or all of the dams as an alternative to licensing. California, as we said, is interested in restoring salmon habitat; removing the dams, beginning with the Gate Dam at Mile 190, would make an additional 300 miles of mainstream and tributary salmonid habitat accessible to Klamath River salmonids.

While we have no dog in this controversy, if it is that, we can’t help but believe that if proponents are successful in having the dams demolished, it might lend impetus to the efforts to have dams removed on the Snake River, where barge traffic is important. However, just the fact that it could encourage others to oppose Snake River dams is not sufficient reason to oppose decommissioning.

As far as we can tell, there is really no parallel. The California Energy Commission staff merely is responding to PacifiCorp’s application to have the facilities relicensed. The commission staff has expressed difficulty in determining the actual financial benefits of the electricity produced at the four dams. Several methods are discussed, but the staff believes that information provided by the dam’s owners is inadequate to help make a good judgment about keeping or demolishing the dams. The Indian tribes believe the company could remove the dams for $100 million.

As power producers go, the commission staff says the output of the Klamath Hydro Project is relatively small, with the facility having a total output capacity of 161 megawatts. The commission says that “low-power, high-impact energy facilities can create substantial net environmental benefits if decommissioning proves to be feasible and cost-effective, and if replacement energy is available.” It also believes PacifiCorp can easily purchase additional power it may need.

Determining cost-effectiveness is the rub. There is a question, too, about the value of spending $220 million for fish ladders.

Waterways Council Inc., in its latest issue of Capitol Currents, reported that since 1980, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has spent $8 billion on fish ladders, electronic tags and special barges in an effort to restore 13 species of endangered salmon and steelhead on the Columbia, Snake, and other Pacific Northwest rivers. A September report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) called the program “the world’s most expensive wildlife restoration program” and labeled it a failure. It is said that less than 3.5 percent of the fish complete the long journey down the river system, past the high dams and predatory (but protected) birds to the open sea. If they survive the fishermen and sea lions, they return in two to three years to spawn.

According to these reports, some hatchery-raised fish are barged down the Columbia and Snake and released after transiting the last dam. In order to track these fish, Bonneville Power has inserted electronic tags into 14,000 fish. The WSJ says the tags cost $270 each. Given the fact that these efforts have not been overly successful, ordering $220 million in fish ladders on the Klamath is a questionable mandate.

We have vigorously opposed demolition of dams on the Snake, where benefits from much more power production and barge transportation are at play. But in all fairness, it is reasonable for the California Energy Commission to request adequate information upon which to make a decision regarding demolishing dams. Perhaps the financial benefits to result from restoring the salmon fisheries would outweigh those of the limited hydropower produced.

In recent decades numerous dams no longer thought to be important have been demolished. Whether that becomes the case on the Klamath is yet to be determined.

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