The first hydroelectric dam to be constructed,
and still operating, is the Fall Creek Dam. Built in
Northern California in 1908, it churns out about 2.2
megawatts of power. Freeman said it’s worthwhile to
operate because of its low costs.
A few years later, Copco engineer J.C. Boyle
surveyed the rest of the river for dam locations.
Through the 1960s, Copco 1 and Copco 2, J.C. Boyle and
Iron Gate dams were built.
Pacific Power and Light purchased Copco in the
1950s and completed construction that had started on
Irongate Dam.
The dams were viewed as
marvels, Freeman said, things that helped tame the West,
providing clean energy for booming development.
The company also built the Link River Dam in
the early 1920s and gave control of it to the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation for the benefit of the Klamath
Reclamation Project.
Power rates
The relationship between irrigators and Copco/Pacifi-Corp
also goes back a long way. Both farmers in and outside
the boundaries of the Klamath Reclamation Project paid
just little more than half a cent per kilowatt hour for
50 years, as pressurized irrigation systems came into
common use. (In pressurized systems, water is pumped out
of the water supply and moved through pipe.
Electricity is needed to power the pumps.)
That discounted rate was in exchange for
irrigators helping the power company by adding water to
the Klamath River from the Lost River diversion channel
and from wells.
In 2006, PacifiCorp was granted permission
by energy regulatory authorities in California and
Oregon to raise the rates to be on par with other
customers — about 9 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Irrigators fought to preserve the historic
rates, but failed. Rate-shock legislation was instituted
in Oregon to transition the new rate over seven years.
In California, a four-year transition was established.
The company has filed more rate increases
since then.
PacifiCorp is a subsidiary company of Mid
American Energy Holdings. More than three-quarters of
that company is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, a publicly
traded company owned by Warren Buffet.
Re-licensing
The company is attempting to re-license the
dams with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
while environmentalists, native tribes and fishing
interests are campaigning for dam removal to allow
salmon to migrate beyond Irongate Dam.
J.C. Boyle, Keno and Link River dams already
have fish ladders in place.
Proponents of dam removal also say the dams
damage the river’s ecosystem by harboring diseases that
attack and weaken salmon.
Now some irrigators also are supporting dam
removal as part of the settlement agreement. Luther
Horsley, president of the Klamath Water Users
Association, said there is no need to advocate on behalf
of the dams if the company does not recognize
irrigators’ contributions to power generation.
PacifiCorp, as a result, is left between a
rock and a hard place, Freeman said. Removing the dams
results in the loss of clean power — something that
power companies are now legally bound to increase. But
keeping the dams potentially causes further harm to a
fishery system experiencing difficulties and continued
legal action from activists.
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Copco No. 1 Completed in 1918. Produces 20 megawatts.
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