PacifiCorp Fights Fish Ladders in Oregon

Using new federal legislation as ammunition, PacifiCorp, which operates dams on the Klamath River, is fighting a ruling that requires them to install fish ladders in order to renew their operating licenses. This after three years of diminishing returns of wild Chinook to the Klamath forced regulators to shut down commercial salmon fishing on the Oregon and California coasts. “Until now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries could impose prescriptions on power companies to help fish and wildlife, which sometimes led utilities to conclude that it was less expensive to remove aging dams rather than to make them safer for fish. But the Energy Policy Act enacted last year gave utilities the chance to challenge those prescriptions before an administrative law judge in the course of relicensing, rather than waiting until the end of the process.” Jeff Barnard in the Contra Costa Times.