SAVE COPCO LAKE Currently the dams at Iron Gate, Copco, Copco II and Boyle Powerhouse on the Klamath river in California and Oregon are under threat of being removed. The current proposal is the remove the dams in 2020. It is the purpose of this site to keep you informed on this particular issue. However I am no longer maintaining this site due to difficulty getting current information. Please visit the Klamath Basin In Crisis Web site for more expansive news on water issues on the Klamath. The information below only goes up to 2010 In February of 2004 Pacificorp filed for relicensing of the Klamath River Hydro Project for 2006 (which didn't happen). The threat comes from small special interest groups who have big voices and a lot of political clout but in many cases there is no science to back up their claims that removing the dams would help the fisheries and water quality. Other rivers in the area that have no dams actually have the same or lower water quality. The upper Klamath Lake is not being removed which blocks fish from reaching original spawing streams like the Williamson and others. Plus, even if the dams come out Salmon will not return to the areas above Irongate and Copco. Those runs are long extinct and Salmon that spawn in one creek do not simply migrate to a new one and there has never been a successful attempt to reintroduce Salmon to an area where the run has become extinct. If the dams are removed a large ecosystem will be destroyed as well as a highly valued recreation area on the lakes of Copco and Irongate. And what compensation would there be for residents at lakes like Copco? Below are articles and comments related to the proposed removal of the dams. For a while updates were not posted due to little or no change in status, but now there is a tenative set date of removal, 2020, for all the dams. The complete December 2009 Public Review Draft documents are available
for review starting December 23, 2009. Copies of the December 2009
Public Review Drafts will be available at the following Regional Water
Board and EPA web sites: Letter from a concerned property owner 8-20-2010 Letter from a concerned property owner 6-29-2010 County letter to Salazar alleges failure to meet dam settlement commitments 6-11-10 Klamath agreements draft legislation surfaces 4-2010 A message from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, North Coast Region (1). Official statement from Senator Sam Aanestad 12-2009 The truth about Salmon and Steelhead 11-09 Klamathon Blue Green Algae Study shows no conclusive adverse effects (pdf) The truth about salmon die offs 10-09 Something is not right on the rivers 10-09 Siskiyou County Executive Summary of the agreement and County's website: 11-09 Rate payers may feel the effects of Dam Removal 11-09 Letter: Need to regulate Native Fishing Practices 10-08 "FERC IGNORES SALMON MANDATES." PacifiCorp plans to keep dams 2-8-07 Hydroelectric Power vs the Alternatives 2-07 Dam relicensing--Fish ladders can be a win-win situation for everyone 11-06 State says Klamath smothered in sediment 11-06 Letter to FERC by Ryan L. Grizzell 11-2006 KLAMATH FACTS VS FICTION By Patt Wardlaw Read some of my own reasons why the removal should not take place.
I will be adding more info to this site soon. If you have questions or comments please feel free to send them to me. |
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