Irrigators seek reciprocity in Klamath dam removal ByChristine Souza
The signatories are expected to file new applications to transfer and surrender the dam licenses in the comingmonths. The memorandum also addressed fundingof the removal project. PacifiCorp would raise $200 million through a sur- charge on ratepayers in California and Oregon, and California would provide an additional $250 million from the Proposition 1 water bond passed by vot- ers in 2014.
project. In response to concerns raised in July by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, theKlamathRiver Renewal Corp., California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Oregon-based hydroelectric power company PacifiCorp and tribes asked in mid-November that the agency remove PacifiCorp from the project license and add California, OregonandKRRCas co-licensees for car- rying out dam removal.
In addition, the memorandum de- scribes how the parties would implement the amended Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, a document that set the terms for removal, as negotiated and signed in 2016. Klamath Basin farmers and ranchers, who receive water for irrigation through the federal Klamath Project, responded to the amended KHSA in August. The KlamathWater Users Association, which states it is “non-opposed” to the amended agreement, urged theparties torespond to irrigators’ unaddressed concerns. These include commitments to develop agree- ments related to water and economic stability, and the potential for new costs, liabilities and regulatory burdens. “I am definitely concerned about whether there’s a legitimate interest in solving our problems,” said Paul Simmons, the water users association executive director and counsel. “Right now, there is the potential for new reg- ulatory burdens associated with species that we don’t now have and there’s the cost of operating facilities that we don’t now have, so those are some potential real consequences that we’ve said need to get addressed.” CaliforniaFarmBureauSeniorCounsel Chris Scheuring said, “Fish restoration projects are a good thing when they are win-wins, but to be a win-win, you’ve got tomake sure that there is no blowback to anybody, including thirdparties. It sounds like the irrigators in the Klamath Basin have not had their third-party concerns addressed yet.” At the KWUA, Simmons said irrigators need reciprocity. “We need to know that people care about our interests—and that needs to showup soon,” he said. The potential for new, regulatory con- straints associatedwithspecies, Simmons said, is an issue theKWUAhas raised for “a dozen years ormore.” In addition, he said, irrigators are left wondering about “potential costs if PacifiCorpwalks away fromsome of its fa- cilities that arenot being removed, and the concernofwhetherwewill have topickup the cost of operating those.” An earlier version of the dam-removal agreement and the larger Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement resulted from a decade of negotiations among Klamath Project irrigators and environmental, tribal and fisheries interests in the basin, and included water certainty for basin farmers. After the U.S. Congress failed to pass legislationby theendof 2015 tomove the earlier agreements forward, irrigators learned they hadnot been included in the amended dam-removal agreement. To implement theamendedagreement, FERCmust approve the transfer of the li- cense for the dams fromPacifiCorp to the KRRC and the states. Second, FERCmust approve the dam-removal plan. Dam re- moval and salmon restoration efforts are expected to begin in 2023. (Chr i s t ine Souza i s an ass i s tant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
The struggle over dams and water con- tinues in the Klamath Basin, as the largest dam-removal effort in U.S. history takes another step forward. The project is intended to restore salm- on runs in the KlamathRiver. Parties to the removal of four hydro- electric dams on the lower Klamath River have announced a “memoran- dum of agreement” for the $450 million
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