Removing 4 Klamath River dams may save money, report finds

Los Angeles Times ^ | December 2, 2006 | Eric Bailey

[calcowgirl]

Setting the stage for a knockdown fight over the fate of four towering Klamath River dams accused of hammering salmon stocks and the West Coast fishing industry, a new government study released Friday has found that decommissioning the dams could cost $100 million less than operating them for another generation.

The economic analysis, ordered by the California Energy Commission in cooperation with the U.S. Department of the Interior, should provide ammunition for Indian tribes, environmentalists and commercial fishermen eager to see the hydropower dams demolished to reopen more than 300 miles of river that have been blocked to migrating salmon for more than half a century.

"It's now official: The Klamath hydro project is an economic loser," said Steve Rothert of the group American Rivers.

The report, produced by a private consulting firm and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Technical Services Center, found that the cost of demolishing the dams and buying market-rate electricity to offset the lost hydropower over the next three decades would be far less than installing the vast infrastructure and improvements expected to be needed for the dams to win license renewal.

Though the hydro project historically has been able to cheaply deliver enough power for about 70,000 homes, new environmental rules would limit the project's unfettered operation, reducing electricity generation by 23%, the study found.

The cost of erecting fish ladders and other projects to help salmon get past the dams and cure water-quality problems would boost the 30-year cost of the project to between $230 million and $470 million, according to the report.

Removing the dams and buying replacement electricity over the next three decades would cost between $152 million and $277 million ... Depending on the price of power in the future, dam removal could save PacifiCorp ratepayers up to $285 million ...

[calcowgirl]

You're on!

[Carry_Okie]

I would say that you are ignorant as to what the situation is here in the West.

I would say that you are ignorant of what is going on globally.

I've seen it called "The War on the West" and it is.

Yup.

It leads back to the environazi idea of returning most of the land in the west to a state of wilderness and it has virtually nothing to do with corporate farming.

Equine feces. The globalists who fund the RICOnuts are heavily invested in offshore food production.

[Eva]

Are the dams in California? I thought that the region was in Oregon.

[Carry_Okie]

When PacifiCorp was under Scottish Power, they put in a methane plant that works off biomass from cattle feedlot waste. The idea was that the trucking costs could be offset by carbon credits against bovine methane, a game that a US power corporation cannot play because we haven't ratified Kyoto.

[calcowgirl]

Are the dams in California? I thought that the region was in Oregon.

See the Map in post 36--the state boundaries are shown as the horizontal dashed line.

[Carry_Okie]

PacifiCorp is a determined competitor in the wholesale market and has contracted to take 47% of the output from a 484 MW gas-fired cogeneration plant which is under construction at Klamath Falls on the border between Oregon and California. PacifiCorp is responsible for the management and operation of the plant, which will also provide district heating and energy management to the City of Klamath Falls, and the project will contribute to operating profit after commissioning in summer 2001. Source

Ironically, without the dams there will be less alfalfa with which to feed the cattle that power the plant. "Oh what a tanlgled web," and all that.

[marsh2]

They are talking about removing the bottom four dams. J. C. Boyle in Oregon, Copco 1&2 and Iron Gate in California. They are not talking about taking out the others at this point.

Yes, some of the irrigators in the Project want to play lets make a deal with the fishermen and tribes to sacrifice the dams in exchange for continued low power rates. Siskiyou County is mostly standing alone with local constituents in opposition to dam removal.

You can read more here: http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/

[greasepaint]

This is the same old crap, that happens everywhere.

farmers, want water at USD 50 per arce-foot,
when everbody else has to five times that in the market.

because, the millionares inherited water rights from
their grandparents.

the Nobility Titles of the water lords should be revoked.

I suppose its possible that their are other issues here,
with that said, farmers want to continue getting
their cut-rate water and electricity, of course,
they don't come out and say that.

[Gamecock]

Who has the Dam Ping List?

[Carry_Okie]

the Nobility Titles of the water lords should be revoked.

While we're at it, let's revoke the title to your house. Oh, and since it isn't fair that some of your stocks appreciated more than the thirty year bond rate, let's tax that too.

[editor-surveyor]

These dweebs can't even see that water isn't just an economic issue? N f'n wonder the republican party is in such a mess. Would the 'is-man' have allowed such contrary reports out of his administration?

[Eva]

This is the same type of advisory group that Gregoire has instituted in WA State. What it amounts to is the state is now paying the lobbyists, instead of the other way around.

[greasepaint]

why don't the f^^^^^^ whore millionaire farmers just
sell out to the condo builders.

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"The globalists who fund the RICOnuts are heavily invested in offshore food production."

It's probably true that I'm being naive.

I can't argue with you that globalists and the corporations that fund them work hand in glove with the environmentalists to determine how we will use our resources.

My response to greasepaint was to his/her belief that the small farmers and landholders who would suffer if the dams were breached were "millionaires" who were ripping him/her off. That description evokes images of corporate officers counting money rather than of family farms and shore front homes being destroyed or rendered useless.

I haven't checked, but I would bet that the same environazi groups that favor destruction of the Klamath dams also favor the destruction of Hetch Hetchy. Removing such a major source of water storage would hurt California's corporate farms and the cities of the Bay Area. They don't care, since removing the reservoir makes it possible for the region to one day revert to the natural wildness of it's neighbor, Yosemite. That's a tough one for me since I despise the theft of our water to feed the cities that provide the votes to control us. I'm not sure, but I think I may despise the environmentalists more.

If I'm reading you correctly, your contention is that the real reason for the War on the West is to remove the treasure to be found in our land and resources from use so that the real powers-that-be can turn a profit with the cheap labor and lack of regulation found offshore.

That's almost too scary for words.

Michael Frazier

[greasepaint]

these deadbeat shi^^^^^^ don't even farm any more.

what they do is, rent out their water '''rights''',
at a profit.

They make money for doing nothing.
They make money for doing nothing.

their grandparents got something from the the federvl gov't.

they don't want anything disturbed.
they don't want others to know about the handouts they get

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"this is also a battle between the "red voting counties," versus the "blue voting counties!"

Limiting the take of commercial fishermen is a simple way to kill the fishing industry. Announcing that the seas will be essentially lifeless in a few years provides the excuse for doing so. I guess corporate fish farming would fill the void and to hell with the fisherman out of Noyo Harbor, eh.

The zero population growth people and the re-wilding people have the same goals. They want to limit the number of us who may exist and they want to force those of us who do get to live to do so in high density urban locations with small footprints.

"...you'll see 'em trying desperately to pit the fishing industry against the farming industry."

Divide and conquer almost always works, doesn't it.

Michael Frazier

[Carry_Okie]

why don't the f^^^^^^ whore millionaire farmers just sell out to the condo builders.

As opposed to the billionaire conservancies who will hold the land tax exempt only to do the same thing, later?

[Carry_Okie]

They don't care, since removing the reservoir makes it possible for the region to one day revert to the natural wildness of it's neighbor, Yosemite.

While selling you water that consumes power to produce, power that comes from their natural gas investments. Water that they can cut off at the flip of a switch.

It is almost beyond comprehension how evil these people are.

[Iconoclast2]

The sick part about all this is that if there were real leaders in Klamath County, they'd quickly see that the right thing to do is organize a public utility district, and take over the dams and run them for the benefit of the Basin. Instead we see Sheeple collaborating in the de-industrialization of America while skimming off some chump change.

[marsh2]

A very rough back of napkin estimate on the additional impact to tax revenue, property values, jobs, recreation, environmental costs over 40 years is about $600 million. None of this was included in the "government study."

Iconoclast, none of these dams are in Klamath County. Most are in Siskiyou. We do not want a separate utility bacause we would be too small an entity to make any sort of cost effective deals on the purchase of power. Since deregulation in California, it would have been a very unstable situation. We have already been down that road before when several cities and Del Norte attempted to form a JPA to take over PacPower's CA service area. The figures did not pencil out and we would have ended up with an extremely expensive utility system. The County took action against formation of a separate utility and won.