THERE'S A NEW POST AT KLAMBLOG!

[Felice Pace]

The new post is titled:

Underreported: The conflict over PacifiCorp’s Interim Measures for
fish and water quality

Here's how it begins:

Perhaps the reporters and editors were on Holiday break. But
whatever the reason it seems curious that – with the exception of the
Siskiyou Daily News – none of the newspapers which regularly report on
Klamath River Basin issues reported an important US Appeals Court
decision which issued on December 28th 2010. The decision was in a
lawsuit brought by the Hoopa Tribe against the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Here are two excerpts:

...Readers may well wonder why the Hoopa Tribe expended
considerable resources on what appears to be a small matter – a change
in ramping rates to benefit Redband Trout. The reason is economic and
political: the only way PacifiCorp makes money on its Klamath
operations is by holding water back during those times of the day when
the price of wholesale energy is low and releasing the water to
generate maximum electricity when the wholesale price is marginally
higher. If FERC were to order the ramping rates to be adjusted in
order to provide for Redband Trout, the incentive for PacifiCorp to
keep the dams for ten more years would evaporate. That could motivate
PacifiCorp to allow dam decommissioning before 2020.....

.....When the Interim Measures to which PacifiCorp agreed in
the KHSA are closely examined, one cannot escape the conclusion that
these measures are cosmetic, politically motivated and inadequate.
They include symbolic actions like dumping gravel below Iron Gate Dam
when the real problem there is horrible water quality leading to
epidemics of fish disease. Those supporting the KHSA are gambling that
failure to adequately address what is killing most of the salmon
produced in Klamath tributaries when they try to descend the River to
the ocean will not totally wipe out ESA-listed Coho and Spring Chinook
salmon before the dams are removed sometime after 2020.......


You can read the full posting at KlamBlog.

[Felice Pace]

Seventeen Salmon and River Activists have released a letter they've
written to newly elected California Governor Jerry Brown asking him to
review and change California Department of Fish & Game policy and
direction in the Klamath River Basin. Klamblog has published their
press release and a copy of the letter. Check it out at:
http://klamblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/seventeen-salmon-and-river-activists.html