NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Cost, timeline for removing Klamath River dams updated
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
KLAMATH FALLS —
Removing four hydroelectric
dams along the lower Klam-
ath River in Southern Ore-
gon and Northern California
is expected to cost just under
$434 million and could hap-
pen by 2022, according to
a new filing with the Fed-
eral Energy Regulatory
Commission.
The nonprofit Klamath
River Renewal Corp. sub-
mitted plans with FERC in
2018 to decommission and
demolish J.C. Boyle, Copco
Nos. 1 and 2 and Iron Gate
dams, which block about
400 miles of upstream habi-
tat for migratory salmon and
steelhead.
Regulators are now con-
sidering whether to transfer
the dams’ operating license
from PacifiCorp to KRRC
before the project can move
forward. A general contrac-
tor, Kiewit Infrastructure
West Co. of Fairfield, Cali-
fornia, is already on board
and working on a plan for
razing the dams.
But first, KRRC must
answer questions from
a six-member indepen-
dent board of consultants
appointed by the feds to
prove they have the money,
insurance and contingency
for such a large proposal.
Project leaders met with
the board five times between
March 14 and July 9. On July
AP Photo, File
Copco No. 2 Dam spans the Klamath River near Hornbrook,
Calif.
29, KRRC filed a 1,333-page
response to feedback includ-
ing the updated cost estimate
and timeline.
Mark Bransom, KRRC
executive director, said the
filing “proves that we under-
stand the magnitude of our
charge and are on the right
path.”
“This is a project of vast
importance for the environ-
ment, the river and the peo-
ple and communities in the
Klamath Basin,” Bransom
said. “We have the funding,
the team, the expertise and
the plan to do it right and
pen a vibrant new chapter of
Klamath River history.”
Built between 1911 and
1962, the lower Klamath
River dams are currently
operated by PacifiCorp
and have a total generation
capacity of 169 megawatts.
Efforts to remove the dams
date back to the 2010, when
farmers, tribes, environmen-
tal groups and government
agencies all signed on to the
Klamath Hydroelectric Set-
tlement Agreement.
By restoring a more
free-flowing river, the par-
ties hope to improve spawn-
ing and survival of fish spe-
cies protected under the
Endangered Species Act.
KRRC was formed out
of the settlement agree-
ment after it was amended
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Mostly sunny and
comfortable
Nice with brilliant
sunshine
83° 55°
87° 59°
TUESDAY
Mostly sunny and
pleasant
WEDNESDAY
Very warm with
plenty of sun
Sunny and very
warm
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
88° 55°
93° 62°
93° 62°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
86° 59°
90° 61°
91° 55°
96° 65°
OREGON FORECAST
97° 66°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Wenatchee
74/60
Olympia
69/59
77/51
85/53
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
84/61
Lewiston
73/58
87/59
Astoria
70/59
Pullman
Yakima 86/57
72/55
85/58
Portland
Hermiston
75/59
The Dalles 86/59
Salem
Corvallis
77/53
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
80/50
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
81/53
82/47
83/52
Ontario
88/57
Caldwell
Burns
86°
63°
88°
58°
105° (2008) 40° (1935)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
78/55
0.00"
0.05"
0.10"
4.61"
5.10"
6.02"
WINDS (in mph)
86/56
84/45
0.00"
0.10"
0.21"
9.71"
6.49"
8.16"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 77/46
78/55
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
83/55
79/60
83°
60°
87°
58°
108° (1933) 39° (1909)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
73/56
Aberdeen
79/55
84/60
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
89/57
Sun.
WSW 7-14
W 7-14
WSW 7-14
W 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
86/48
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:57 a.m.
8:00 p.m.
9:24 p.m.
7:54 a.m.
Last
New
First
Full
Aug 23
Aug 30
Sep 5
Sep 13
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 113° in Imperial, Calif. Low 29° in Stanley, Idaho
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
in 2016 to take ownership
of the dams from Pacifi-
Corp. That requires approval
from FERC to ensure the
new owners are able to fol-
low through on the project
while offsetting any poten-
tial short- and long-term
impacts.
Bransom said he is con-
fident KRRC has the fund-
ing to complete the job. The
latest estimate of $434 mil-
lion is well within the orga-
nization’s $450 million bud-
get — including $62 million
to cover unanticipated costs,
and $16 million left over in
cash reserves.
“The bottom line from
this analysis is that we have
Farmers ‘profoundly disappointed’
by Trump’s wheat comments
President claims
Japan doesn’t want
American wheat
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
WASHINGTON
—
The U.S. wheat industry is
reacting with disappoint-
ment after President Don-
ald Trump said that Japan,
their No. 1 customer,
doesn’t really want to buy
their grain.
According to White
House transcripts, Trump
made the comments Aug.
13 while speaking about
energy during a campaign
stop in Pennsylvania:
“Many car plants —
they’re coming in from
Japan. I told Prime Minis-
ter Abe — great guy. I said,
‘Listen, we have a massive
deficit with Japan.’ They
send thousands and thou-
sands — millions — of
cars. We send them wheat.
Wheat. (Laughter.) That’s
not a good deal. And they
don’t even want our wheat.
They do it because they
want us to at least feel that
we’re OK. You know, they
do it to make us feel good.”
A White House spokes-
man directed questions
to USDA and the Office
of the U.S. Trade Repre-
sentative. Requests seek-
ing comment were not
returned.
“The president was on
a campaign speech and
speaking, as he normally
does, off the top of his
head,” Chandler Goule,
CEO of the National Asso-
ciation of Wheat Grow-
ers, told the Capital Press.
-0s
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20s
flurries
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cold front
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70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
tigate expanding wheat
sales.
Japan is the No. 1 mar-
ket for U.S. wheat, and the
No. 2 market for soft white
wheat grown in the Pacific
Northwest, the league
said. U.S. wheat has a 50%
market share in Japan.
“Our customers in
Japan don’t buy our wheat
because they are doing us
a favor or to make us feel
good, they buy our wheat
because we have built a
relationship with them,
earned their trust, listened
to their needs, and pro-
vided great customer ser-
vice,” the league stated.
“This is not a situa-
tion in which they’re sim-
ply buying what can be
close to $1 billion worth
of wheat a year for polit-
ical reasons,” said Steve
Mercer, vice president of
communications for U.S.
Wheat Associates, the
overseas marketing arm
for the industry. “This is
a need and a desire on the
part of their industry to
purchase U.S. wheat.”
Japan has purchased
an average of 2.91 mil-
lion metric tons in each of
the last five years, Mercer
said.
Wheat farmers are at
a trading disadvantage
with Japan because Trump
withdrew the U.S. from
the Trans-Pacific Partner-
ship trade treaty. Com-
peting wheat-producing
countries such as Canada
and Australia remained
in the agreement. As part
of that agreement, those
nations with see Japanese
tariffs on wheat reduced in
coming years.
high
low
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“What’s most unfortunate,
in my mind, is he was sit-
ting here in the last cou-
ple months talking about
how all our farmers in the
United States are doing
great, but yet, they’re not
and they’re suffering.”
Goule said Trump’s
comments were “very
frustrating.” He said the
president claims to be con-
tinually supporting farm-
ers, but started a trade
war, and then directly
attacks “the bread basket
commodity of the United
States.”
“Do I want to say that
it was probably speaking
before you think?” Goule
said. “Yes, it probably
was, but you’re the pres-
ident of the United States
and the farmers and ranch-
ers of this country are
who put you in office. To
have you attack a com-
modity that is high-qual-
ity and in high demand ...
and that truly depends on
export markets is really
just irresponsible.”
In a statement, the
Oregon Wheat Growers
League said it was “pro-
foundly disappointed” in
Trump’s comments.
“The President’s dis-
missive statements ...
demonstrated that he
doesn’t fully appreci-
ate the 70 years of efforts
by generations of wheat
growers to build the great
relationships we have with
our customers in Japan,”
the league stated.
Relationships between
Japanese millers and U.S.
farmers began in 1949,
when the league organized
a trade delegation to inves-
CORRECTIONS: In the Page A7 story “Rock’n’Roll Pendleton rock camp gets roll-
ing” published Thursday, August 15, the names of Kira Boland and Clare Durant-
Bailor were misspelled in the image captions.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
concluded the KRRC has
sufficient funding within our
budget to complete the proj-
ect,” Bransom told the Cap-
ital Press.
Funding for dam removal
comes primarily from Pacif-
iCorp ratepayers. The com-
pany has committed $200
million, and up to $250 mil-
lion from California Propo-
sition 1, a $7.5 billion state-
wide water bond that passed
in 2014.
KRRC originally antic-
ipated dam removal could
begin as early as 2021, but
Bransom said 2022 is more
likely given the regulatory
review schedule. In addi-
tion to FERC, the California
State Water Resources Con-
trol Board is also still finaliz-
ing its environmental review
of the project.
As for addressing risk
management, Bransom said
KRRC has hired Resource
Environmental
Solutions
LLC to handle environmen-
tal mitigation and is propos-
ing to set up a local impact
mitigation fund so individu-
als can file claims for poten-
tial damages.
“We’re still in the pro-
cess of determining what
that will look like,” Bransom
said. “It certainly has been
part of our process through
our public outreach.”
The KRRC’s plan recently
garnered support from U.S.
Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley from Oregon and
Kamala Harris and Dianne
Feinstein from California.
The senators, all Democrats,
submitted a letter to FERC
on Aug. 1 asking the agency
to give the proposal “full and
fair consideration.”
“For decades, the Lower
Klamath Project has blocked
fish passage on the Klam-
ath River, resulted in harm-
ful algal blooms and created
conflicts between various
stakeholder groups,” the
senators wrote. “Timely
removal of these dams is crit-
ical to tribes in the Klamath
Basin, West Coast fishing
and recreation communities,
and farmers and ranchers in
Southern Oregon and North-
ern California.”
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