<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560752"><h3 id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560753">Feds won’t oppose Klamath River dam removal, official says</h3><h4 id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560754">Hoopa Valley Tribe chairman says he is hopeful after official’s comments</h4><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560755"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: italic;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560756">By Will Houston, Eureka Times-Standard</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560757"></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560758">Friday, September 29, 2017</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560759"></div></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; border-bottom-style: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560760"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560761"><div style="margin: 10px !important; float: left; width: 250px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560762"><img src="http://image.times-standard.com/storyimage/NJ/20170929/NEWS/170929773/AR/0/AR-170929773.jpg&MaxW=250" alt="This Aug. 21, 2009 file photo shows water trickling over Copco 1 Dam on the Klamath River outside Hornbrook, Calif. The dam is one of four that are proposed to be removed under the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement." id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560763" data-id="73420bbc-4304-10d1-e1de-587c4d29cea5"></div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560764"></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560765"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560766">A top Interior Department official said in a recent interview with an Oregon newspaper that the department will not interfere with a plan to remove four dams from the 236-mile Klamath River.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560767">“Interior is not going to do anything to slow or stop the dam removal process,” the Interior Department Bureau of Reclamation deputy commissioner Alan Mikkelsen <a href="https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/reclamation-official-to-make-third-trip-to-the-basin/article_c93276ec-731d-5e39-8b31-8ba1a98e3a7a.html" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560768">said to the Herald and News</a> on Wednesday.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560769">The Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement proposes to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River starting in 2020 in order to improve water quality for wildlife and downstream users. The most recent version of the agreement was signed last year by California, Oregon, the dams’ Oregon-based owner PacifiCorp and several tribes who reside in the Klamath Basin. </div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560770"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560771">Hoopa Valley Tribe Chairman Ryan Jackson said Friday that Mikkelsen has met several times with basin stakeholders including representatives of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. The tribe resides along one of the Klamath Rivers tributaries, the Trinity River.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560772">“We’ve had a number of meetings with Alan. They have all been pretty positive. Alan has brought a sort of new perspective to the Klamath-Trinity basin, which is definitely positive,” Jackson said.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560773">This reporter’s attempts to contact officials Karuk Tribe Natural Resources Policy Advisor Craig Tucker were not returned Friday. The Yurok Tribal Council was unavailable for comment Friday because it was attending meetings in Washington, D.C. </div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560774"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560775">Attempts to contact the private nonprofit Klamath River Renewal Corporation, which is heading the dam removal efforts, were not returned.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560776">The dam removal agreement as well as two related agreements that sought to address years of water rights conflicts between tribes and basin ranchers failed to pass through Congress by the end of 2015 after several years of attempts. </div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560777">A new version of the agreement was signed by top state, federal and tribal government officials in April 2016 along with a new agreement — the Klamath Power Facilities Agreement — that sets a goal for bringing back the failed water sharing pacts. </div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560778"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560779">Rather than attempt another push through Congress, dam removal advocates are bringing the plan before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates energy sales and transmissions in the U.S. The dam removal agreement must still obtain water quality certifications in California and Oregon before the commission can make a final determination. </div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560780">PacifiCorp spokesman Bob Gravely provided the following statement to the Times-Standard regarding Mikkelsen’s comments on the dam removal plan:</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560781">“It’s appropriate to allow the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to follow its regular procedure to review the removal of privately-owned dams. The agreement was purposefully changed to not require approvals from Congress or a direct role by federal agencies in dam removal.”</div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560782"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560783">Removing the four dams will cost about $450 million. PacifiCorp ratepayers in California and Oregon will contribute $200 million and California will be contributing the other $250 million through the Proposition 1 water bond passed by voters in 2014.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560784">As for the two failed water sharing agreements — one of which expired in Congress and the other becoming essentially moot — Mikkelsen told the Herald and News that he believes a unified water agreement between tribes, farmers and ranchers is still a possibility. This new agreement would likely require congressional approval, which previous attempts failed to gain because of opposition by House Republicans. </div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560785"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560786">“What we are telling people is that we would like to see a comprehensive basin-wide agreement that, while it may have a large price tag, it will be one settlement,” Mikkelsen said to the Herald and News. “For a long time, every time you turned around, congressmen and women were seeing bills that read ‘Klamath’ on top of it and a price tag on the bottom and they were wondering what the devil is going on in Klamath. It is more palatable to Congress if it is one, single agreement,” he said.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560787">Unlike the Yurok, Karuk and Klamath Tribes of Oregon that had supported the former water sharing agreements, the Hoopa Valley Tribe did not because it did not believe enough water was being allocated to protect fish, Jackson said.</div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560788"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560789">Jackson pointed to the record low forecast for returning Chinook salmon on the lower Klamath River this year as a clear example of what happens to salmon populations after years of low-flow river conditions.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560790">“For us there needs to be a certain amount of water that is released into the river to ensure that the salmon survive; not only the juveniles on the way out to the ocean, but the returning fish,” Jackson said. “For the tribe, what has happened over the years is the biological opinion crafted by the Arcata [National Marine Fisheries Service] office wasn’t adequate for the survival of the salmon. We have seen that now play out with the runs being historically low.”</div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560791"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560792"><em id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560793">Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.</em></div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560794"></div></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(191, 191, 191); clear: both;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560795"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560796"><form id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560797"> </form></div><div style="font-size: 10px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560798"><b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560799">URL: http://www.times-standard.com/general-news/20170929/feds-wont-oppose-klamath-river-dam-removal-official-says</b></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560800">© 2017 Eureka Times-Standard (<a href="http://www.times-standard.com/" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506436299209_560801">http://www.times-standard.com</a>)</div></div></div></body></html>