Siskiyou County supervisors last week had a special Congressional-style meeting on the proposed Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement with representatives from the California Resource Agency/Department of Fish and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, PacifiCorp, Karuk and Yurok tribes, Tulelake Irrigators, Klamath Project Water Users and off-Project water users.
Supervisors also met with engineering specialist John Lambie to discuss sediment studies on dam removal.
Supervisor Marcia Armstrong said Lambie told them no comprehensive feasibility study has been done that compares the dollar and environmental costs of the different ways the dams could be removed.
Lambie said the studies did not analyze the river’s carrying capacity and said one study listed six pages of additional studies needed before a decision on dam removal is made.
Lambie said 20 tons of sediment behind the dams would have to be released.
Three sediment samples for dioxins, a wood preservative, showed levels would be harmful to organisms that live on river bottoms, she said, and a study by dam removal proponents indicated the sediment release would kill fish.