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Now that the NAS has proven that the higher flow rates the Tribes demand from Klamath and Iron Gate dams do more harm to fish than good (because the water from those lakes is so warm), the jig on that gambit is up. It is now proven that there are no benefits to fish by breaching the dam. So, the tribes just change venues thinking the State of California and Arnold are a bigger bunch of patsies than even the Feds are.

The tribesmen were in Edinburgh yesterday to demonstrate at ScottishPower’s annual meeting. They say dams owned by a subsidiary of the company have damaged their fishing grounds.

Scottish Power has a generating facility near Klamath Falls that runs on methane from cow dung. It's an economic loser, but heck, they get Kyoto credits for consuming the methane. To get a nice fat return on that new plant, there's nothing quite like getting rid of the Klamath Lakes hydro station to abet an increasingly severe power shortage to bump that return.

It has been obvious since before the California Power Crisis that Scottish Power might look for an excuse to breach that dam. What is truly sad is that bird habitat will take a serious hit if they do, just as cutting back water to the farmers has done because the farmers used to feed the birds on their crop residues. Removing that dam will have serious environmental consequences for bird life on the Pacific flyway, unless there's an available substitute.

I would hazard that The Nature Conservancy (heavily bankrolled by British royals) is thoroughly behind this. As I understand it, TNC has been swiping water upstream of Klamath for a bird santuary of their own for quite some time now (probably illegally).