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Proposed Klamath River Dams Removal - Public and Legislators Have Been Misinformed - Critical Information Sequestered

Copco (seen in photo) and Iron Gate Lakes hold 45-billion gallons of fresh water that is desperately needed for domestic, agricultural and wildfire suppression uses under the Klamath River Basin Compact Act

Copco Lake (seen in photo) and Iron Gate Lakes hold 45-billion gallons of fresh water that is desperately needed for domestic, agricultural and wildfire suppression uses under the Klamath River Basin Compact Act. Photo: William E. Simpson II

1913 drawing by famous engineer/dam builder J.C. Boyle that shows naturally-formed 31-foot-tall lava dam holding back the Klamath River creating 'Clammittee Lake', which was present when construction on Copco 1 dam began. Migratory fish didn't this dam.

1913 drawing by famous engineer/dam builder J.C. Boyle that shows the naturally-formed 31-foot-tall lava dam holding back the Klamath River creating 'Clammittee Lake', which was present when construction on Copco 1 dam began. This dam blocked fish migration

Animal tracks in the Ward Canyon ecosystem, a small example of biodiversity created by large bodies of fresh water at Copco and Iron Gate Lakes

Animal tracks in an ecosystem where native species wild horses are the keystone herbivores, demonstrates biodiversity. Photo: William E. Simpson II

Firefighting helicopter draws water from Iron Gate Lake on the Klamath River to fight the Klamathon Wildfire

Firefighters drew over 1-million gallons of water from Iron Gate Lake (one of the lakes behind the Klamath River dams) to fight the 38,000-acre Klamathon Fire threatening Ashland Oregon and Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Photo: William E. Simpson II

A pair of threatened Western Pond Turtles at Copco Lake. Just one of many threatened and endangered species of flora and fauna

A pair of threatened Western Pond Turtles at Copco Lake. Just one of many threatened and endangered species of flora and fauna with habitat in and around the shoreline ecosystems of these large fresh water lakes

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's license transfer to KRRC conflicts with its own precedent case ruling requiring full NEPA compliance before transfer

Economics Not Salmon Is the Reason PacifiCorp is Removing the Dams”
— Glen Spain - Klamath River Renewal Corporation board member
YREKA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, July 24, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Modern-day Copco Lake (SEE IMAGE) was called 'Clammittee Lake' in the early 1900's when the Klamath River was held back in a lake by a natural 31-foot-tall lava dam that blocked any up-river fish migration. This 31-foot-tall natural dam was the smallest of several such naturally-formed volcanic dams that blocked salmon migration for millennia, and right up until the time that Copco 1 dam was built.

It's interesting that the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) had from the start, avoided any discussions about the natural high-dams blocking fish migration, and failed to disclose to the public and FERC, J.C. Boyle's drawings of this natural 31-foot tall dam that clearly blocked fish migration.

That was until July 13th 2021 when KRRC started feebly trying to respond to being outed, by posting more twisted Logic on its Facebook page, seemingly beginning to cover for not making a full disclosure of this (one of many) important and hard to explain-away facts. And even in their Facebook post of July 13th, they continue to hide J.C. Boyle's drawing and narrative of the 31-foot-tall natural dam!


Lets face facts here: When KRRC and it's band of surrogate fishing-zealots came out with their propaganda campaign, they proclaimed it was all about restoring a fish migration, which we now know from hard indisputable facts, wasn't happening.

And now, in a July 8th email to naturalist Mr. William E. Simpson II, Mr. Glen Spain, who wears two-faces; one as a member of Klamath River Renewal Corporation's board of director, and also as the NW Regional Director at Institute for Fisheries Resources, made this shocking statement:

“Ultimately however whether Salmon did or did not exist above the dams is irrelevant to PacifiCorp’s decision to remove the dams today.” And near the end of the same email, Mr. Spain reiterates that; “Economics Not Salmon Is the Reason PacifiCorp is Removing the Dams”.

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/546897224/klamath-river-dams-krrc-s-proposed-dam-removal-project-minority-consensus-for-environmental-and-ecological-disaster

One of several other natural lava dams that stood in the area of Wards Canyon for tens of thousands of years was a dam that was 130-feet tall (separate from the 31-foot-tall natural dam), and the remnants of that natural 130-foot-tall volcanic dam can still be seen today extending from the mountainsides in Ward Canyon at the location of the modern Copco 1 dam.

The 31-foot-tall natural lava dam and lake (Clammittee Lake) as seen in the drawing by famous engineer and dam builder J.C. Boyle, was provided with a narrative and published in 1913. (SEE IMAGE).

That drawing and narrative by J.C. Boyle represents the end of the migratory fish tales by fishing zealots and KRRC.

Salmon don't fly, and salmon can't jump more than about 12-feet, under ideal conditions.

The science: https://www.snopud.com/Site/Content/Documents/relicensing/Fish/EvalMigration_070106.PDF

The modern-day Copco and Iron Gate Lakes created by the dams built by J.C. Boyle, together hold 45-billion gallons of fresh water, and provide habitat for hundreds of species of flora and fauna, some of which are endangered and threatened species.

If the Klamath River dams are allowed to come out at a time when more fresh water storage is required during an unprecedented drought and wildfire, and the massive disaster predicted by dissenting noted scientists, who have been censored, comes to pass, wildlife supporters, environmentalists, taxpayers / voters will be looking for who to blame...

Notably, a series of press releases is now available containing previously sequestered information that is critical for a proper evaluation of Klamath River Renewal Corporation’s dam removal project.

In the light of honesty, the compelling evidence presented in the series condemns KRRC’s plan to remove the Klamath River dams.

The series of press releases also provides a ‘public record’ of facts that conflict with the propaganda campaign by KRRC and a minority consensus of fishing-zealots who are surrogates for KRRC's plan, and arguably could care less about the health, safety and welfare of tens of thousands of Americans who will be directly and indirectly adversely impacted by dam removal.

Nor do these cavalier minority consensus groups seem to care about the sustainability of the hundreds of species of flora and fauna in the eleven-mile corridor surrounding Ward Canyon and the Klamath River dams.

Many of the resident and migratory species that live in and around Copco and Iron Gate lakes are rare, threatened or endangered species that will be wiped-out via the destruction of their lake and shoreline ecosystems, should the dams be removed.

The Press Release titled 'Klamath River Dams: KRRC's Proposed Dam Removal Project - Minority Consensus for Environmental and Ecological Disaster’ outlines some of the serious flaws and misinformation that has been used to promote this reckless project to its present precarious status.

There is no doubt that this proposed dam removal project will seriously jeopardize the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Southern Oregon and Northern California!

Legislators must immediately (during FERC's current scoping period) be calling-for a complete top-to-bottom review of KRRC's reckless plan.

This is especially true as of late, since the proposed dam removal project has morphed into a 'public project' given the proposed use of tax-dollars instead of only private money from PacificCorp.

And, after said top-to-bottom scrutiny of the plan, full compliance with NEPA must be undertaken.

This is the world's largest and most risk-laden dam removal in history!

Any repercussions from even the slightest misstep will end in the most severe ecological and environmental disaster ever seen on the west coast.

This is no time for anyone, especially the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), to be taking any short-cuts!

Allowing any license transfer to the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC), even with California and Oregon taxpayers on the financial hook, conflicts with FERC’s own past precedent case ruling about the absolute requirement of full NEPA compliance 'before' any license transfer when there’s any potential for adverse environmental impact. The Klamath River dams removal proposal by KRRC is as risky as they come, with potential for numerous disastrous environmental outcomes.

Siskiyou County California, through its law firm Nossaman, LLP, has filed a REQUEST FOR REHEARING on July 16, 2021. The filing can be read here: www.klamathbasincrisis.org/ferc/2021/SiskiyouRequestForRehearingFERCJune17DamLicenseTransfer071621.htm

Making matters around this dam removal proposal even more insane is that, the project budget is based-on calculations done half a decade ago, with no adjustments for inflation, or for the recently published massive cost increases due to COVID Economics that have just been seen over the past year.

Impact of COVID Economics on the construction industry: https://www.agc.org/sites/default/files/AGC%202021%20Inflation%20Alert%20-%20Ver1.1.pdf

KRRC's current obsolete budget is provably about one-half of what would arguably be needed ($900-million is needed).

'Engaging in 'discount-dam-removal' is begging for disaster.

More important info at EIN News article: 'Klamath River Dams: KRRC's Proposed Dam Removal Project - Minority Consensus for Environmental and Ecological Disaster"

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/546897224/klamath-river-dams-krrc-s-proposed-dam-removal-project-minority-consensus-for-environmental-and-ecological-disaster

Richard Marshall
Siskiyou County Water Users Association
+1 530-468-4204
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CAL-FIRE Fresno Battalion Chief Mike Alforque discusses the critical importance that water from Iron Gate Lake played in stopping the deadly Klamathon Fire

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