Diane Beck
North Group Conservation Chair

Relicensing of Klamath Hydroelectric Project

The Redwood Chapter has filed a Motion to Intervene in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) proceedings over the relicensing of PacifiCorp's Klamath Hydroelectric Project involving six dams on the middle Klamath River. The Klamath River basin once had the third largest salmon runs in the United States, after the Columbia and Sacramento River basins. The dams have a severe impact on water quality in the lower Klamath and have blocked fish passage to nearly 350 miles of spawning and rearing habitat.

The hydroelectric project produces only about 150 MW of electricity, or 1.7 percent of the power that PacifiCorp supplies to its 1.5 million customers. PacifiCorp filed its Final License Application with FERC in February 2004. The Redwood Chapter's Motion to Intervene, written and filed by Kristen Boyles of Earthjustice, lists the significant failings of the License Application: "lack of provisions for fish passage, lack of completed studies, major data gaps, lack of information on water quality impacts, lack of any discussion of dam decommissioning, and lack of economic analysis of the impacts of the dams on downriver fishing-dependent communities."

Eureka's Waterfront Drive Extension Project.

proposing to build a road through Eureka (Palco) Marsh on the railroad right-of-way. The State Coastal Conservancy provided the funding for the property and its enhancement in 1985, and signed a conservation easement with the City entitle "Irrevocable Offer to Dedicate Easement for Resource Enhancement and Open Space."

Entertaining a road through the marsh flies in the face of the Conservancy's "resource enhancement and open space" easement. In its comments on the Notice of Preparation (NOP) of a Draft Environmental Impact Report the Conservancy has informed the City that, if the project were to interfere with marsh habitat or enhancement activities or "detract from project purposes," "that could constitute a breach of one or more of the agreements, and the Conservancy could then be put in the position of having to evaluate its contractual, legal, and equitable remedies."

Four environmental organizations--Redwood Region Audubon Society, Environmental Information Protection Center, Northcoast Environmental Center, and the Sierra Club's North Group--presented joint comments to the City on the NOP in October. The railroad folks are not happy with the project nor is the California Department of Fish and Game.