It happens that Warren Buffet owns Pacificorp which owns the hydro dams on the Klamath River, Through age, pressure from Injun tribes, and the enthusiasm of environmentalists... the dams would be removed gradually...the land and river would recover...salmon and steelhead runs would be restored. Not much was said about where 60 to 100 years of clay sediments would be handled...other than a staged plan was in place to control the amount of sediment and water released. The US Geological Survey was to monitor turbidity, water quality, nitrates, phosphates and our friends...heavy metals ongoing as water was released.
Welp, a week before the first USGS report was due to be made public, the corporation formed to do the dam removal scrapped the controlled release timetable and opened the floodgates of hell and cut her loose. (note the timing, before the USGS report on heavy metals and contaminants was due to be released) 250 miles of wild river turned into liquid muck...fishkill by the ton, maybe the entire food chain destroyed, enough mud to kill crawdads, a silt plume visible from space out into the Pacific. At least 11 deer have had to be shot, hopelessly mired. Dozens of people living in the Klamath canyon downstream are suffering from well contamination, a few people near the dam sites are being supplied domestic water from water trucks.
Not even one word from the media. If anyone is interested at all, there are some chilling photos and a narrative on Youtube...I believe the title is "Dam Removal part 3." You most likely are not interested...but it would be good to have this lesson in what not to do if the govt is talking about dam removal near you.
