Siskiyou residents give views on Klamath project, proposed removal of four dams
October 21, 2011
YREKA, Calif. - About 250 people crammed into a fairgrounds exhibit hall here Thursday night to give their opinions about the proposed removal of four dams from the Klamath River.
Before the meeting, one of six scheduled public hearings to take testimony on the project's environmental documents, groups of supporters and detractors waved signs and banners outside while others asked questions of experts at about a dozen stations inside the hall.
"Why should we lose our clean hydro power?" said Scott Valley rancher Jennifer Menke, who is against the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement.
Last November, Siskiyou County voters overwhelmingly agreed with an advisory ballot measure opposing the removal of the three dams that sit within the county's boundaries, noted Morellen Baird, a Yreka rancher.
"The 79 percent of people who voted in this county not to take the dams down should have a say," she said.
Nearby, Erica Terence of the Orleans, Calif.-based environmental group Klamath Riverkeeper, was chanting into a bullhorn, "Un-dam the Klamath! Let the water flow!"
"It's all about having farms and fish, and we have some work to do to have farms and fish," she said in an interview.
Public hearings were held Oct. 18 in Klamath Falls, Ore., and Oct. 19 in Chiloquin, Ore. Additional hearings are slated for Oct. 25 in Orleans, Calif., Oct. 26 in Arcata, Calif., and Oct. 27 in Klamath, Calif.
For details, visit http://klamathrestoration.gov .
To listen to a podcast on this and other issues: http://capitalpress.blogspot.com/2011/10/podcast-klamath-basin-battles-federal.html