Klamath Dams Down: Will Ranches Survive?

Dam removal proponents claimed the project would help salmon, but steelhead trout are dead, and salmon spawning beds were destroyed

By California Globe, February 23, 2024 2:55 am

This is the second article in a series about the Klamath Dam Removal project in Siskiyou County.

By Theodora Johnson

The largest, most devastating dam removal experiment in modern history has reached the point of no return. As of January 23, 2024—despite opposition by a majority of local residents—the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River have been officially breached.

Ironically, dam removal proponents claimed the project would help salmon, but now the Klamath River is being polluted with millions of cubic yards of decomposed algae, organic deposition, chemicals, and fine silt that has built up behind the dams. Dead steelhead trout and other species are floating to the banks. Any salmon spawning beds in the Klamath River were undoubtedly destroyed. At press time, conditions in the Klamath River were not likely survivable for the salmon juveniles that were beginning to emerge from the tributary rivers and creeks on their way to the ocean.

https://californiaglobe.com/fr/klamath-dams-down-will-ranches-survive/

(Photo caption: Copco Lake, post dam removal. (Photo: Ray Haupt)

A bit of a dig shows Warren Buffet owns this dam - and others.

Gov. Newsom Urges Billionaire Warren Buffett To Back Klamath Dam Removal

‘Without any follow up flood control systems, the area would be at risk’

By Evan Symon, August 1, 2020 9:28 am

Earlier this week, Governor Gavin Newsom wrote directly to billionaire investor Warren Buffett in an attempt to gain his support for removing four dams in Northern California that Buffet’s company owns.

The possible destruction of the Klamath dam system in Northern California

The dams are part of the Klamath project, a series of seven dams built in the 1910’s and 1920’s in the Klamath Basin to bring electricity and agricultural water mitigation for Southern Oregon and Northern California. However, in recent years, concerns over the dams effect on the wildlife and fishing industry have been raised, especially regarding many species of fish facing extinction due to the effects of the dams.

In 2018, plans were released to destroy the dam system. However, those plans ended in 2019 due to data errors and issues over who owns the dams themselves. The Bureau of Reclamation soon put out a study on the dams effects through 2024, leading to California to try again to destroy the dams.

However the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee ended those plans once again in June, ruling that PacificCorp, an Oregon utility company owned by Buffett’s Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway, would have to transfer it’s hydroelectric license and co-licensee with the Klamath River Renewal Corp, as well as pay $250 million towards getting out of the demolition project to avoid any liabilities around the demolition.

https://californiaglobe.com/fl/gov-newsom-urges-billionaire-warren-buffett-to-back-klamath-dam-removal/

Warren Buffet is an ecological criminal for profit.

Is this payback for Paxton and Texas winning the lawsuit where Pelosi passed a 1.7 trillion dollars spending bill that the court just ruled was unconstitutional? Just have to ask.

==San Antonio, Bexar County firefighters deploy to Panhandle wildfire

Local officials ask you keep firefighters in your thoughts.==

By Zachary-Taylor Wright Feb 28, 2024

With fires continuing to spread across the Texas Panhandle, several local firefighters have been called on to help douse the spreading flames. The Texas A&M Forest Service is working to contain four fires that have left thousands directly in the line of danger, and the agency has called on members of both the San Antonio Fire Department and several Bexar County Emergency Service Districts to help contain the flames.

The Smokehouse Creek Fire has spread to engulf 500,000 acres as of Wednesday morning, February 28, which means it has grown more than 10-fold since Tuesday morning when it was estimated to cover less than 50,000 acres. The major wildfire has already become Texas’s second largest wildfire in the state’s history. The largest fire burned more than 907,000 acres in 2007, and the most damaging was the Bastrop fire in 2011 that destroyed 1,600 homes and burned more than 32,000 acres.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/texas-panhandle-wildfire-18693184.php