Utility might remove dams to restore salmon

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — The new president of PacifiCorp's power-generating division says the utility could agree to removing five dams from the Klamath River to help restore salmon if it doesn't require raising electricity rates.

"We have heard the tribes' concerns," PacifiCorp Energy President Bill Fehrman said in a statement posted Wednesday on the utility's Web site. "We are not opposed to dam removal or other settlement opportunities as long as our customers are not harmed and our property rights are respected."

The company said the statement reflected its position all along in talks over a new 50-year license to operate the dams, but Indian tribes called it an encouraging move toward restoring salmon to 350 miles of rivers blocked by the dams for nearly 100 years.

"The company is behaving differently under the new management," said Craig Tucker, coordinator of the dam-removal campaign for the Karuk Tribe.

PacifiCorp posted the statement at the request of the Yurok, Karuk, Klamath and other tribes, along with a rally they held in Portland to bring attention to their campaign to remove the dams.