Feds recommend keeping Klamath dams

The ruling is the lone regulatory voice that completely ignores the plight of the salmon on the Klamath River and recommends not only keeping the dams, but trapping and hauling spawning fish around them, the worst of all possible solutions. Even PacifiCorp, the electric utility that owns the dams, has said it will spend $300 million to build fish ladders to help the salmon.

The FERC has made a number of questionable rulings under this Administration, going back to the Enron days. See this documentary that examines their role in the bad old days of blackouts in California.

Biologists for Agency Endorse Dams Plan

From the New York Times, an article about the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)biological opinion on the conflict between dams and salmon in the Pacific Northwest. Biological opinions from federal scientists about fisheries issues, and particularly salmon issues in the west, are at the heart of many water use conflicts, including the ongoing Klamath River conflict.

The biological opinion in the Klamath controversy is covered extensively in the documentary, and former NMFS scientist Mike Kelly explains his position on it and why the negotiations over it led him to become a federal whistleblower.