California Tribes and Fishermen Come to Omaha on Quest to Save Salmon

The choice of Omaha NB for this corporate energy conference isn't without some irony that these two similarities exist in linguistics;

Both are translations for 'bigfoot' or giant people who lived in the woods;

"Omah = Yurok Indian = Not Available
Oh Mah = Hoopa Indian = "Boss of the Woods"
"

Similar pronunciations between Omaha where this convention of corporate giants is located and Omah or Oh Mah for the giants of the forest in indigenous language. That's about where the similarites end however, because from here on out the paths diverge rapidly. Far from being an all consuming monster, the bigfoot of many Native American legends is of a peaceful being who usually stays out people's way if left alone..

"Taking into account the many names given to Bigfoot over the years by many tribes of Native American Indians, it is hard to not see some similarities and perhaps equate a "common denominator" that's at the very least, EVIDENCE that these creatures exist, and to what their very nature is like. Perhaps they are as afraid of us as we are of them..."

other translations @
http://unifiedworlds.com/NAbigfootnames.htm

On the other hand the jackbooted intrusions of giant multinational energy corporations like Warren Buffet's Pacificorp (owned by Berkshire Hathaway) on the Klamath River squeezes the life out of the rio for minimal energy inputs yet rewards large energy consumers (usually other corporations) with taxpayer funded power deals. Despite the green image of Pacificorp PR, the reality is an energy corporation going full throttle on fossil fuels. Outdated dams are other resoure draining projects that trade minimal energy input for decimation of migratory fish populations. Ratepayers will likely be stuck with the bill of fish ladder installation if dams remain. That's sad for the Yurok, Tolowa, Hupa, Karuk, Crescent City, Arcata and other nearby NorCal and Oregon residents who can choose between cheap electric bills from Pacificorp or extinction of salmon by dam suffocation. Whatever happened to windmills and solar cells for local energy consumers? Even in the rainy north we get our share of sun, and it sure does get windy!!

http://www.greenwindmill.com/

The cost on maintenence of these outdated Klamath dams is phenomenal, and the sediment build-up and toxic algae infestation will not be solved by quick-fix solutions of fish ladders and trucking fish upstream only to dump them into stagnant water infested with toxic algae..

What removal of Klamath dam will accomplish is multifactorial. We can witness the return of salmonids, sturgeon, lamprey (eel) and other migratory rio species when habitat is restored by dam removal;

1) Toxic algae 'Microcystis aeruginosa' no longer has stagnant habitat behind dams to thrive. Seasonal rains will reduce population of C. aeruginosa to negligible following removal of lower four dams. Algicide is NOT an effective mitigation as proposed by Pacificorp. Algicide releases the algae's toxin called 'cystin' following splicing of algal cells. Cystin can remain as an accumulating toxin in water out of direct sunlight behind dams..

"The Klamath Riverkeeper, the Karuk Tribe of California, and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association (PCFFA) are jointly petitioning for the California State Water Board to hold PacifiCorp accountable for dangerously high blooms of toxic blue green algae in Klamath reservoirs. Since 2005, Iron Gate and Copco reservoirs have seen some of the most toxic blooms of the toxic algae Microcystis aeruginosa ever recorded in the United States.

Health experts warn that even modest exposure to the toxin produced by the algae, called microcystin, can lead to skin rashes, vomiting, and diarrhea. High doses of the toxin, such as those found in the Klamath reservoirs each summer, could lead to massive liver failure and even death in humans. Microcystin also can poison and kill fish and wildlife."

article cont's @;
http://www.ejcw.org/our_work/klamath.htm

2) Reopen additional upstream tributary spawning habitat enables greater salmonid populations to return yearly, exponential returns to 8X current population in decade possible following removal of all four lower Klamath dams.

3) Water temps will lower, dissolved oxygen and water velocity will increase so that juvenile salmon returning to ocean will make it without experiencing massive die offs from bacterial population explosion causing gill rot. Dams cause the combination of warmer, slower water with less dissolved oxygen that results in sluggish swimming salmon stuck in a rapid rate of bacterial breeding site. Dam removal will allow fresh rio water to flow faster and colder with greater oxygen availability.

If salmon return the Klamath region will experience in increase in energy input that outweighs the profits extracted by Berkshire Hathaway for operating outdated hydroelectric dams..

Let's all tell Warren Buffet, the billionaire business tycoon CEO of Berkshire Hathaway who aquired Pacificorp following a decision by Pacificorp shareholders in Scotland to remove the dams. Their decision occurred after hearing the plight or Klamath's indigenous nations; the Hupa, Yurok and Karuk among others who depend upon the Klamath Rio's salmon for their cultural and physical survival. Now that a ruthless billionaire CEO of Berkshire Hathaway has taken over the dams, he may decide to milk the monsters for all the money they're worth, government subsidies for maintenance? Hasn't Halliburton tried the same trick by overpricing their bids for petroleum infrastructure maintenence in Iraq??

Then there's our neighbors in Humboldt, many of whom have gotten seriously screwed by Maxxam's takeover of Pacific Lumber, and PL's current Chptr 11 bankruptcy hearings in TeXas! Anywonder the festival of corporate giants is happening in Omaha, far away from the people effected??

Green energy of windmills and solar cells encourage local rooftop independence from large energy corporations like Berkshire Hathaway. Other than to monopolize the production of solar cells, once purchased it is impossible for an energy company to bill consumers for solar energy. Most solar cells last about 40 years, and windmills nearly forever. Dams and power plants require centralized control and indefinite bills for consumers. The current trend of monopolization of energy giants points towards control of resources by jackbooted corporations. Sounds more like Berkshire Hathaway's "Oracle of Omaha" is only seeing dollar signs while salmon die along the Klamath..

Energy world according to the 'unreasonable' Ralph Nader;

"Industry insiders believe that if PUHCA is repealed, only about six holding companies will own all electric utilities a decade from now. Indeed, there could be short-term profits to be made by Berkshire Hathaway, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Bechtel, Halliburton, foreign utilities such as Electricite de France, and other currently regulated utility holding companies like the Southern Company, Entergy and AEP. But at what ultimate cost to Americans? Why should consumers pay increased rates to cover the debt these companies will incur to purchase power plants and transmission systems that have already been bought and paid for with ratepayer revenues? While some grid upgrades are needed, in many cases new infrastructure will simply facilitate the trading of electricity over longer distances to provide increased profits to these trading companies.

<-->

It is a great irony that Berkshire Hathaway is located in Omaha, Nebraska, the home state of one of the greatest backers of public power in the history of our country. Senator George W. Norris was one of the first to call for (and get) an investigation of the Power Trust, as the utility holding companies of the 1920s were called. He and Nebraska learned well from the 101 volumes of abuses perpetrated by utility holding companies in the 1920s that the Federal Trade Commission uncovered and documented in its investigation. To this day, the state of Nebraska does not have a single public utility holding company, either exempt or registered under PUHCA, but has all public power companies.

Finally, some who favor deregulation insist that the PUHCA framework is "outdated." The U.S. Constitution is now more than two centuries old. No one is suggesting that this framework for our democracy is too old to be useful.

Under today’s regulatory structure, Berkshire Hathaway can invest in the electricity sector, it just cannot control multistate utilities without divesting its other business holdings. I am not discounting the possibility that, under your guidance and business prudence, Berkshire Hathaway could acquire electricity sector assets and operate them ethically and above reproach. However, eventually you will not be in charge, and the Enron-type entrepreneurs of the world will have us longing with wistful nostalgia for the days when those boring old electric utilities were something you could rely on."

Sincerely,

Ralph Nader

Ralph's entire letter @;
http://www.nader.org/releases/buffett.html

Regardless of his status as an election "spoiler" for Democrats, Ralph Nader has done his homework on the corporate energy cabal and should feel free to comment on the situation with the Klamath dams and Berkshire Hathaway's Pacificorp. Sure would be great to have Nader visit Eureka in the future for any public comments;

"The power company that uses six hydroelectric dams on the mid-Klamath River has submitted an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to have its operating license, which expires in March 2006, reissued for another 50 years.

More than 150 people gathered in Eureka last week when FERC held a meeting seeking public comment on the issue.

"Enough is enough," said Leaf Hillman, director of the Karuk Department of Natural Resources in Orleans. "We need to end the suffering of salmon and people. We depend on those salmon."

The hydroelectric project owned by PacifiCorps, a Portland, Ore.-based power company, is spread across 45 miles of the river and generates 150 megawatts of power, serving approximately 77,000 people, according to the power company.

Plagued with low flows and diseases that have killed both juvenile and adult fish, the Klamath has been an epicenter of concern and debate. In 2002, more than 32,000 adult Chinook salmon and steelhead died in the lower Klamath River."

read on @;
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/070104/news0701.html

The room was so crowded that night in Eureka that many people didn't have time to speak even though the FERC workers waited until midnight. Nearly 100% of public comments asked FERC recommend tearing down the lower four Klamath dams. We need not look very far over the hills to realize that if either of these two jackbooted giant corporate CEOs would come way out west they'ld get booed off the stage by some pissed of indigenous residents, workers, fishing people and the very forests and rios themselves would let out a howl of dissent!!

"Tearing out Pacificorp's dams on the Klamath River would be thriftier than keeping the hydropower project running for the next 30 years, ...according to a study prepared by the California Energy Commission and the U.S. Department of the Interior."

read on @;
http://northcoastwaternetwork.org/news.html