Groups Sponsor Day of Action Against PacifiCorp on September 18

Klamath Tribes, Fishermen Will March on PacifiCorp to Urge Dam Removal

by Dan Bacher

A broad coalition of Klamath River Indian Tribes, conservation groups, fishermen and ratepayer advocates is sponsoring a "Day of Action Against PacifiCorp" at the company's headquarters in Portland, Oregon on September 18.

The group will march from Holladay Park to PacifiCorp’s headquarters to demand the removal of the lower four Klamath dams, owned by PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Corporation. The group will assemble at Holladay Park (the corner of Multnomah and NE 11th Ave., Portland, OR) and at noon march to PacifiCorp headquarters at 825 NE Multnomah, a few blocks away. A press conference and rally will be held in front of PacifiCorp’s office at 1 p.m.

"We want to draw attention to the urgent need for PacifiCorp to agree to dam removal in order to restore the river," said Georgianna Myers, spokesperson for the Klamath Justice Coalition. "The company hasn't agreed yet to remove the dams in the current basin restoration agreement. We need to start the decommissioning process immediately - we can't wait 10 to 15 years."

The protest occurs during a year when commercial and recreational salmon fishing in ocean waters off California and most of Oregon is closed for the first time in history. Fishing in Central Valley rivers, with the exception of a short season from November 1 through December 31 on a small stretch of the Sacramento River, has been closed also.

Although the reason for this year's closures is the collapse of the Sacramento River fall chinook salmon population, just two years ago a precipitous decline in Klamath River fall salmon stocks caused the federal government to impose severe fishing restrictions upon commercial salmon fishermen fishing the ocean off California and Oregon. The decline was largely the result of the Klamath fall fish kill of 2002, when over 68,000 adult fish perished from disease caused by low, warm water conditions stemming from a change in water policy by the Bush administration.

During the spring of 2002, hundreds of thousands of juvenile chinooks perished from disease when the water heated up, spurring an outbreak of disease. Since that time, the majority of juvenile salmon migrating down river have been killed in warm, disease-infested water on the river every year. In addition, Karuk Tribe water quality experts have documented an outbreak of highly toxic microsystis algae every summer in PacifiCorp's Iron Gate and Copco reservoirs on the Klamath in northern California near the Oregon border.

Myers said that there will be some form of direct action during or after the rally. A group of 10 members of the Klamath Justice Coalition, including members of the Yurok, Hoopa Valley and Karuk Tribes, have been training in direct action techniques with the Indigenous Peoples Power Project, IP3, in recent months. The IP3 is a project of the Ruckus Society.

"We encourage people to come and support us," she said. "We will taking a 40 passenger bus from the North Coast to the march and rally on September 18."

The bus and carpools will be leaving from McKinnleyville, Klamath, and Somes Bar, California on Sept. 17. For more information contact Georgiana Myers, Klamath Justice Coalition spokesperson, at 707-599-0877, sregonlady [at] gmail.com, or Craig Tucker, Karuk Tribe spokesperson, office 530-627-3446 x3027, cell 916-207-8294, ctucker [at] karuk.us.

For more information see: http://www.salmonforsavings.com; http://www.klamathriver.org; http://www.berkshireshareholders.com