IN SUPPORT OF FREEDOM ON THE KLAMATH RIVER

11/20/2011

STOP DAM REMOVAL ON THE KLAMATH PUBLIC COMMENTS CLOSE NOV 21 (Forwarded from Matt Grocott, MY LIBERTY) I am writing to ask for your help in supporting the farmers and ranchers of Southern Oregon and Northern California. There is an ugly situation going on there which I have witnessed myself and since witnessing, have been deeply troubled over. I do not understand why our government would go to the measures it has planned to hurt good people barely making a living off their land. What is proposed by the Department of the Interior will be the final blow to an already decimated area economically. These folks need our help.

The Federal Government is planning to destroy four dams on the Upper Klamath River. One in southern Oregon; the other three in northern California. Allegedly, it is to save the Coho salmon. According to people in the area, dam removal will wipe out clean, affordable, electrical power to 70,000 homes, release tons of sediment from behind the dams and make the river less reliable for irrigation; the river will be a mere stream in the summer, a flood threat in the spring, and toxic.
Already government policies have removed miners and loggers from the area; now the target is ranchers and farmers. One reason California is in such bad shape economically is because of government policies in our rural areas. It's time we stood up and put a stop to any more destruction of our rural communities and their economies.
I urge you to write or e-mail comments challenging the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) and the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). See below for the two lead agencies to contact. Also see below for example points you may wish to make (in your own words).
Be sure to request that the dams NOT be removed.
Next, please forward this message to other people you know will agree with keeping the dams in place. We must let the government know we will not stand for the destruction of rural America and the water rights/property rights of our fellow citizens.
Thank you in advance for you help.
Matt Grocott
Please see below for detailed information.
Deadline to comment is Nov. 21, 2011 (postmarked)
Write to both:

Bureau of Reclamation2800 Cottage WaySacramento, CA 95825via fax (916) 978-5055     via email: KlamathSD@usbr.gov

Mr. Gordon Leppigc/o California Department of Fish and Game619 Second StreetEureka, CA 95501via fax (707) 441-2021via email: KSDcomments@dfg.ca.gov

WATER QUALITY
Challenge:How will taking out dams improve water quality? Klamath is naturally warm and polluted up stream* Area of headwaters is volcanic and rich in minerals, including basalt, magnesium and phosphorus* System of four dams filters out the minerals and allows the water to cool
POLLUTING SEDIMENTS from BREACH
Challenge:How will the release of toxic sediment into the river ecosystem, caused by the breaching of the dams, be mitigated?* Years of built up, toxic sediment will be released* Toxic sediment will pollute water, banks, riparian plant life, fish and underground acquifers* Toxicity of river and acquifers may last 100 years or more
GREEN and AFFORDABLE ENERGY
Challenge:How will the green, affordable energy currently provided by the four, hydroelectric dams be replaced?* Existing four dams provide hydroelectric power* Hydroelectric power is both green and economical* Current system provides enough electricity to power 70,000 homes
STAKEHOLDERS
Challenge:How were "stakeholders" determined?* 40,000 Siskiyou County residents and their local, elected representatives were not included in the Klamath River Dam removal meetings* Four tribes exist in the Klamath Basin - the Shasta, Karuk, Yurok, and Hupa; the Shasta have been left out of all agreements and their sacred burial grounds will be destroyed when the dams are breached
PROTECTING NON-NATIVE FISH
Challenge:A major impetus for dam removal is concern over the Coho salmon, a non-native species to the Klamath River; why?* Coho salmon are not native to the Klamath and were planted in the river in the late 1800's      * Coho are not natural to the Klamath and yet millions of fish produced at the Iron Gate fish hatchery are not included in the river population because they are not considered natural* Coho typically spawn within 30 miles of the ocean; first dam on the Klamath is 187 miles upstream

Bay Area Liberty
Palomares Hills
Castro Valley, California 94552
mimi.steel@att.net

6 Comments

Debbie Bacigalupi link

11/27/2011 01:17:46 pm

Dear Rosa -

Thank you so much for posting this...we Siskiyou County ranchers, farmers, and citizens thank you for your support.

It's been a long, full of corrupt shady "agreements" where the bunk "science" does not justify the largest, most destructive dam removal in history. How can they justify 20,000,000 (million) cubic yards (half way around the earth) of pollutants washing 187 miles downstream and out to sea??? The very fish they claim to save will die for years because they won't be able to survive in water full of toxins.

The other part of the agreement wipes out ranches and farms in "critical" areas...and off critical tributaries.

Coupled with up to 10,000,000 acre grab via Exec Order in the guise of "Monumentalization" of the "Climate Refuge" along the California/Oregon border - this will be the largest land grab in California and the Western United States.

Can you say Agenda 21?

Love what you are doing for our Freedom.

Thank you,

Debbie Bacigalupi
Proud daughter of Siskiyou County ranching and farming parents!
dbacigalupi@gmail.com

Johnny Smith

2/22/2012 07:58:51 am

This article is full of misinformation. Many anti-Klamath dam removal supporters claim that the dam removal science is "bunk", yet what science can they gather to support their claims?

What kind of science is this article based on? For instance, where's the data to support that " dam removal will make the river less reliable for irrigation, a flood threat in the spring, and toxic"? You need to provide better data than "according to people in the area" to support your statement...this is not an objective source, and is based on fear-based propaganda against dam removal.

Klamath Resident

2/22/2012 05:32:22 pm

A good place to start for the science is the local experts: www.siskiyoucountywaterusers.com/
Also, look at the EIR/EIS own Expert Panel reports. The Coho and Chinook independent Expert panels said this is nothing more than an experiment! Fish are unlikely to return in any greater numbers. The fish counts are not historically valid - and variations are more likely due to increased protection of natural predators (sea lions, killer whales, eagles), improvements in professional commercial fishing, tribal gill netting (span the river with efficient netting), and the warming of waters... salmon are in reportedly record numbers in Alaska! In addition, there is an inquiry into the illegal listing of the Coho as an Endangered Species which was supposedly the basis for the dams out. But once you see all of the holes in the thousands of pages our tax dollars have paid for, you start to wonder what is going on - really - and try to follow the money. You will find a myriad of new "clean energy" projects by NGOs, mega-wealthy energy entrepreneurs, and opportunistic groups. You will see double standards - hardships put upon current legal land owners who are good land stewards yet surprising passes to compliance for the favored insiders to the so called "stakeholders". The meetings that BLM and CDFG held do not tell you that often well over half of the room present was there countering the science. It's just not good science! It is bully politics!

Lee Rickard

2/23/2012 12:35:00 am

I live beside Copco lake-one of the lakes created by the dams on the Kalamath River. Just on the threat of dam removal our home value has dropped by half. That is nothing compared with the damage that would be created if the dams come out. The lake is home to hundreds of the endangered River Otters+NATIVE trout+large mouth bass and more! Bald Eagles abound.

Richard Gierak

2/23/2012 01:10:09 am

Scientific data clearly indicates that Coho reductions in California is controlled by Pacific Ocean temperature.
The 1993 NMFS Oceanic Report states that the “El nino of 1983-1985 was responsible for devastating the Coho Salmon population off the coast of California by driving Coho Salmon North into Alaskan waters.”
Dr. John Palmisano formerly a Marine mammal biologist for NMFS in Juneau, Alaska, teaching fisheries and biology at U of Washington an environmental scientist for a consulting firm in Bellevue, WA. (503 645-5676)) 1997: pg2. "Coastal waters from Mexico all the way to Alaska have gradually warmed since the climate shift of the 1970s and the subsequent, periodic affects of El Nino." "It is estimated that 40 - 80 percent of estuarine habitat along the Pacific Northwest has been diminished or destroyed". "It is clearly not the perceived mismanagement of inland streams and rivers that has caused the recent degradation of the salmonid population".
According to NMFS data in 1950 the total catch of all Salmon species in the Pacific Northwest totaled 149,000 metric tons with 80% caught in Alaskan waters. In 2007 the total catch in the Pacific Northwest was 403,000 metric tons with 97% caught in Alaskan waters
http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/commercial/landings/annual_landings.html
As to flood protection the following article covers the subject quite well.
http://www.triplicate.com/Opinion/Pages-of-History/Pages-of-History-State-board-okays-a-dam-on-Klamath
Pages of History: State board okays a dam on Klamath
From the pages of the Del Norte Triplicate, March 1960.

The State Water Rights Board has granted a water rights permit on the Klamath River to the California Oregon Power Company for its proposed Iron Gate Dam.
The move was hailed by local citizens as a boon to the county. The dam will serve for both power and flood control, thus lessening flood danger in the Klamath area. Sportsmen too have cause to celebrate, since terms of the permit require measures for protection of the river wildlife. Under the permit granted by the water rights board, COPCO will maintain minimum stream flows sufficient to sustain fish life as recommended by the Department of Fish and Game.
The department was instrumental in getting the federal power commission to order the company to build the dam to regulate the stream, which has fluctuated in such a manner as to cause frequent fish kills and endanger human life on the Klamath below the existing COPCO dam.

John W. Menke, A.A., B.S., M.S., Ph.D. and retired professor University of California Berkeley and Davis

2/23/2012 01:39:27 am

The government's willingness to flush from behind the four dams 21 million cubic yards of concentrated organic muck laden with phosphorus down the wild and scenic Klamath River shows that it does not care about the existing fine fishery that exists downstream including more than 190 river miles to the Pacific Ocean. The phosphorus is from natural sources and not toxic in itself, but the oxygen demand that will result from the fertilizer-effect of the released muck in the river will kill much of the river's biota.

The real motivation for dam 'notching' is removal of hydroelectric power production by the 4 existing dams. Cap-and-trade carbon trading (Al Gore et al.) has no hooks in hydroelectricity power generation, but with carbon dioxide production with burning fossil fuels the government can raise power costs to control use of power. The newly constructed natural gas pipeline from Rock Springs, Wyoming to Malin, Oregon is going to be the replacement power for northern California and southern Oregon if the dams are removed. Under this new source of power EPA and CalEPA will be able to raise the cost of electricity making pumping of irrigation water for agriculture uneconomical. Thus irrigated agriculture in Klamath River Watershed including the Rogue Valley and Upper Klamath Basin of southern Oregon, and Tulelake, Butte Valley, Shasta Valley, and Scott Valley in northern California will become uneconomical due to high pricing of fossil-fuel-generated electricity by the government.

IN SUPPORT OF FREEDOM ON THE KLAMATH RIVER

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