The Department of the
Interior Thursday released the Final Environmental
Impact Statement evaluating the potential removal of
four privately owned hydroelectric facilities on the
Klamath River -- identifying the preferred alternative
as full removal of all four facilities.
The matter now awaits
congressional action before the Secretary of the
Interior may make a determination of whether the removal
of the four facilities is in the public interest.
Informed by numerous public
meetings and consultations with local and tribal
governments throughout the Klamath Basin, the Final EIS
analyzes the impacts and benefits across a broad
spectrum, including ecological, aesthetic, historic,
cultural, economic, social, and health.
As part of the analysis,
the Department also evaluated scenarios that would leave
all or some of the facilities in place. The Final EIS
also describes significant environmental effects that
cannot be avoided for each alternative analyzed, as well
as a synopsis of major impacts and benefits for each
alternative.
“The EIS released today,
considered in combination with the previously released
Overview Report, represents the most comprehensive
scientific, engineering, and environmental evaluation of
facilities removal ever undertaken in the Klamath
Basin,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “The
preferred alternative finds that removal of the four
facilities and implementation of the Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement are important components of a
durable, long-term solution for local communities and
tribes to advance the water and native fishery resources
of the Klamath Basin.”
The EIS was undertaken as
part of the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement,
which laid out a process for determining whether the
removal of the facilities would advance the restoration
of salmon fisheries in the Klamath Basin and how it
would impact local communities and tribes.
Signed in February of 2010
by more than 40 entities, including the states of Oregon
and California, PacifiCorp, three Indian tribes,
irrigation communities, fishing communities, and
non-governmental organizations, the KHSA calls for a
robust scientific and environmental evaluation of the
potential removal of these facilities.
This evaluation is seen as
part of a large-scale effort to develop long term
solutions to the water challenges of the Klamath Basin
that restore natural fish production, establish reliable
water and power supplies, and support healthy
communities.
The KHSA directs the
Secretary of the Interior to make a determination of
whether the removal of the four privately owned
hydroelectric facilities is in the public interest and
will advance restoration of the salmonid fishery of the
Klamath Basin. The KHSA also calls for certain
conditions to be met before the Secretarial
Determination is made, including an authorization by
Congress.
Having met the Department’s
obligation to undertake an evaluation of science,
engineering, and environmental studies under the KHSA,
Salazar called on Congress to pass the legislation
needed to enact a durable and longstanding solution for
the basin.
“By releasing the EIS and
final Overview Report, Congress, local stakeholders, and
the public have a comprehensive analysis upon which to
develop and enact a legislative solution to the ongoing,
complex challenges in the basin,” Salazar said. “Once
again the communities of the Klamath Basin are facing a
potentially difficult water year under a status quo that
everyone agrees is broken. We need a comprehensive
solution addressing all of the needs of the Klamath
Basin, including fisheries, agriculture, refuges, and
power.”
The
Final EIS considers and responds to more than 4,000
comments received on the draft EIS. Under the National
Environmental Policy Act, the Department is required to
identify a preferred alternative in the Final EIS. The
Final EIS is available atwww.KlamathRestoration.gov<http://www.klamathrestoration.gov/
The Overview Report, which
synthesizes the findings of more than 50 individual
engineering, scientific and economic reports and
underwent extensive peer review, was released in
February. The Overview Report includes a discussion of
the levels of scientific uncertainty associated with the
reports and is also available at www.klamathrestoration.gov/