<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:26.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:23.0pt;font-family:Times;

mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#0B2A4E">Salazar: Klamath dam <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:26.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:23.0pt;font-family:Times;

mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#0B2A4E">removal cheaper than <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:26.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:23.0pt;font-family:Times;

mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#0B2A4E">forecast; Interior <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:26.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:23.0pt;font-family:Times;

mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#0B2A4E">secretary's remarks spark <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:26.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:23.0pt;font-family:Times;

mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#0B2A4E">optimism among <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:26.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:23.0pt;font-family:Times;

mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#0B2A4E">stakeholders<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:26.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:23.0pt;font-family:Times;

mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#0B2A4E"><o:p> <a href="http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_18934584?source=rss">http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_18934584?source=rss</a> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;

mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:#434343">Thadeus Greenson/The

Times-Standard<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;

mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:#434343"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;

mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:#716D6D">Posted: 09/20/2011 02:40:18

AM PDT<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:13.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;

mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:#716D6D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made his first public <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">comments on an agreement to remove Klamath River <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">dams Monday, and the result was music to <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">stakeholders' ears. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Addressing the Commonwealth Club in San <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Francisco just days before the removal project's <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">critical Draft Environmental Statement was due to be <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">released, Salazar offered a brief preview of the <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">document, saying studies indicate removal of the <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">dams will benefit the environment, bolster fish <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">populations, create jobs and be a lot cheaper than <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">initially thought. It's the last part that perked a lot of <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">ears. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">”One of the fears that I've had and others have had <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">is if we would come in below the cap and, according <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">to Salazar, indeed we will,” said Craig Tucker, <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">spokesman for the Karuk Tribe, referring to the <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">$450 million cost cap outlined in the removal <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">agreement that he and two dozen other groups <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">drafted and signed in February 2010. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">PacifiCorp spokesman Bob Gravely said Salazar's <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">estimated $290 million cost to remove the dams is <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">good news for the company, whose 550,000 <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Oregon customers are paying an extra 2 percent per <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">month on their electric bills to cover $200 million <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">of the removal costs. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Under the removal agreement -- which necessitated <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">compromise from dam owner PacifiCorp, fishermen, <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">farmers, environmentalists and tribes, many of <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">which had spent years in conflict -- the parties were <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">tasked with providing a comprehensive <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">environmental and economic analysis of the impacts <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">of removing <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">the four Klamath River dams. A Draft Environmental <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Statement -- a key component of that process -- is <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">due out Thursday, and Salazar's speech Monday was <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">widely viewed by stakeholders as being a preview of <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">that statement. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Salazar said there are positives and negatives <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">associated with dam removal, but the bulk of his <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">remarks focused squarely on the positive. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">”We today have real hope for a healthier basin and <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">stronger economy on the Klamath,” he said. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">While the removals could result in a decrease in <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">property values for some landowners and the loss <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">of some recreational opportunities, Salazar said the <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">environmental statement will show that dam removal <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">would reclaim 68 miles of historical coho salmon <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">habitat and 420 miles of steelhead habitat and could <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">increase commercially harvested chinook salmon <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">production by more than 80 percent. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Glen Spain, spokesman for the Pacific Coast <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Federation of Fishermen's Associations, said that's <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">great news. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">”That is a lot of jobs and a lot of families with <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">incomes that we haven't seen in a long time,” he <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">said. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Salazar also spent much of his comments Monday <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">focusing on the economic impacts of removing the <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">dams. While the removals would result in 50 dam <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">management jobs being lost, Salazar said, the proposed

“watershedwide” restoration program <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">could add more than 4,600 jobs to the area over 15 <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">years, including 1,400 during the physical dam <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">removal. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Further, Salazar said, studies indicate that increased <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">reliability in water supplies could also boost farm <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">income, adding between 70 and 695 jobs annually <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">to the agricultural economy. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Becky Hyde, a rancher in the upper Klamath basin <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">and board member of the Upper Klamath Water Users <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Association, said she thinks those estimates are <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">conservative. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">”Up in our neck of the woods, agriculture <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">contributes about $600 million to the region's <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">economy,” she said. “These agreements stabilize <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">that economy.” <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Spain said Salazar's comments didn't come as a <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">surprise to those familiar with the issues on the <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Klamath. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">”All in all, I think what we see is confirmation of <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">what many of us have been saying for years, which <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">is, 'it's time for those dams to go,'” he said. “And it <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">not only makes sense for salmon, but it make sense <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">for the regional economy.” <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Salazar is slated to make a final decision on whether <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">the dam removal plan is in the public's best interest <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">in March 2012. In the meantime -- watching the <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">environmental statement process unfold -- <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">stakeholders are hoping to get federal legislation in <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">place paving the way for the dams' removal. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Hyde said she and other stakeholders have been <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">working with Sen. Jeff Merkeley, D-Ore., on draft <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">legislation to be introduced at some point in the <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">future. Salazar's comments underscoring the <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">economic benefit of the dams' removal may help <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">grease legislative wheels in Washington during a <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">politically contentious time, stakeholders said. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">”We think we're politically agnostic on the Klamath,” <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">said Tucker. “We're about solving problems, and it's <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">not about Democrats and Republicans. It's about <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">farmers and fishermen and tribes.” <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Tucker said he's watched the cantankerous climate <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">on the Klamath change over the years from one in <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">which people were at each others' throats to the <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">present climate, where farmers bring potatoes and <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">horseradish to stakeholder meetings and head home <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">with salmon. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">”I think they're becoming neighbors, and I think <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">people are realizing we're one basin with a shared <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">destiny,” he said. “If we work together, that destiny <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">will be positive.” <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica">Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or <a href="http://ezurl.co/504521"><span style="color:#0000F6;text-decoration:none;

text-underline:none"> <o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:

none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:

Helvetica;color:#0000F6"><a href="http://ezurl.co/504521"><span style="color:#0000F6;text-decoration:none;text-underline:none">tgreenson@times-standard.com</span></a></span><span style="font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<!--EndFragment-->

</body></html>