Siskiyou Daily News 11/9/17 by David Smith,

The Klamath River Renewal Corporation held an open house style meeting in Yreka Wednesday night, and was greeted by a group of locals expressing their dissatisfaction with the group’s aim: Taking out four dams on the Klamath River.

The nonprofit organization KRRC was formed in 2016 for the purpose of having four of utility company PacifiCorp’s dams on the Klamath transferred to its ownership and then removed. Those dams – J.C. Boyle in Oregon and Iron Gate, Copco 1 and Copco 2 – were first targeted for removal in the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement.

Originally, the KHSA called for the removal of the dams in a process requiring some authorizing legislation from Congress. When the legislature failed to pass such legislation, the KHSA was amended and called instead for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to decide whether the dams will be transferred and destroyed. FERC is the agency typically responsible for making regulatory decisions related to dam projects.

KRRC has already held public forums across Siskiyou County in recent months, and last night, the organization invited the public to the Best Western Miner’s Inn Convention Center in Yreka to discuss the project moving forward.

The format featured no formal presentations or public comment period, but instead included various stations with information about the process. Attendees – a number of whom brought signs expressing their opposition to the removal of the dams – shared their thoughts and concerns, including concerns that the meeting was a way for KRRC to say it held public forums without gathering meaningful input.

In addition to discussions with KRRC board members, attendees were treated to informational pamphlets, one of which detailed the organization’s timeline for potential dam removal, if approved by FERC.

The timeline chart displays a number of review processes running concurrently: FERC’s process for approving or denying the dam transfer and decommissioning applications, the Water Quality Certification processes in Oregon and California – on which FERC must rely – FERC’s National Environmental Policy Act review process, and other environmental permitting. In addition, baseline monitoring and field studies are listed as having already begun in concurrence with the aforementioned processes.

The timeline notes that KRRC expects to begin soliciting and contracting for construction services as early as the start of 2018, although it shows FERC’s determination process not being complete until late 2019, at the earliest. It also shows that KRRC expects to begin dam removal beginning in 2020, which is the date set by the amended KHSA.

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