Dive Brief:
- Rep. Jared Huffman (Calif-D) yesterday sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), urging the agency to approve the license transfer and decommissioning of four hydroelectric dams located in California and Oregon.
- In September, Klamath River Renewal Corporation filed an application jointly with PacifiCorp to transfer the licenses. A second application asked for authorization to remove the dams beginning 2020.
- Huffman's letter said the deal has his "full support," adding that the dams are outdated and "cause severe environmental impacts that cannot be justified."
Dive Insight:
Removal of the Klamath dams stems from a 2010 settlement between PacifiCorp and more than 40 other parties. The Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement (KHSA) provided a framework for the removal of the dams, of which PacifiCorp operates seven.
The four dams subject to last month's filing include: Iron Gate, Copco I, Copco II, and J.C. Boyle. Three are located in California, and one in Oregon. The Klamath river runs through Huffman's district. The 169-MW Klamath Hydroelectric Project was constructed between 1903 and 1962. Huffman in his letter to FERC pointed to "an enormous body of scientific evidence" illustrating how the dams are outdated and can "cause severe environmental impacts that cannot be justified."
"Intense negotiations by the federal government, tribes, fishing groups, the states of California and Oregon, and environmental groups have led to an agreement that looks to remove these four dams through the FERC process," Huffman added.
According to the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, which was formed to oversee removal of the four dams, federal environmental agencies previously recommended that the dams need to be retrofitted to provide for fish passage. Regulators in Oregon and California subsequently found that decommissioning the dams through the KHSA framework was a better option for PacifiCorp customers.
