Public needs to weigh in on issue of
dam removal
Herald and News
letter to the editor 11/8/09, by
Mike
Tyrholm, Klamath Falls
The impression is being put forward that dam removal
is a done deal. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There are many hoops to jump through first. The
public needs to weigh in and verbalize its opinion. To
this point, the public has been systematically excluded
from the total process. After all, it is every taxpayer
and every home and business who uses PacifiCorp power
who is going to pay 100 percent of dam removal, not
PacifiCorp.
Our elected state representatives Sen. Doug
Whitsett, Rep. Bill Garrard and Rep. George Gilman as
well as Northern California U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock,
U.S. Rep. Wally Herger and former assemblyman Doug
LaMalfa, who is running for the Senate, are all
adamantly opposed to what is going on.
In a recent poll, only 11 percent of Klamath County
registered voters favored dam removal. An additional
poll in Oregon, Washington and Idaho had the same basic
results: “Leave Clean Hydro Power in Place.”
If the Klamath River dams come out, the dams on the
Snake and Columbia rivers will surely be next. Then what
will we do for clean, renewable power?
In this agreement, Keno Dam is to be deeded to the
federal government and this federal government control
is supposed to provide additional protection for this
structure.
Have we forgotten all the “protections” the federal
government provided during the 2001 Klamath River water
shutoff? If anything, there will be less protection
under federal government ownership.
As it is now, under PacifiCorp ownership, there are
a lot of protections because of private property rights.
The city of Klamath Falls: Cherish your memories of Lake
Ewauna as this local landmark would disappear with the
Keno Dam.
A Basin-wide settlement is a worthy goal, but as
currently written, the Klamath Basin Restoration
Agreement and Dam Removal Agreement does not achieve it.
