Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Newsom Asks Warren Buffett to Back Dam Removal
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
July 31, 2020

Share

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gavin Newsom has appealed directly to investor Warren Buffett to support demolishing four hydroelectric dams on a river along the Oregon-California border to save salmon populations that have dwindled to almost nothing.
Newsom on Wednesday sent a letter to Buffett urging him to back the Klamath River project, which would be the largest dam removal in U.S. history.
The dams are owned by PacificCorp, an Oregon-based utility that is part of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. conglomerate.
The $450 million project would reshape California’s second-largest river and empty giant reservoirs. It could also revive plummeting salmon populations by reopening hundreds of miles of potential habitat that has been blocked for more than a century.
That could bring relief to a half-dozen Native American tribes that rely on salmon fishing and are spread across hundreds of miles in southern Oregon and northern California.
“The river is sick, and the Klamath Basin tribes are suffering,” Newsom wrote, calling the removal project “a shining example of what we can accomplish when we act according to our values.”
The letter was sent to Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman and PacifiCorp’s president.
Efforts to remove the dams and restore the basin have been in the works for a dozen years. Newsom supports a 2016 agreement under which PacifiCorp would transfer its federal hydroelectric licenses for the dams to a nonprofit coalition, the Klamath River Renewal Corp., that was formed to oversee the demolition.

Photo of Warren Buffet
Photo: Shutterstock

The Agency Said It Believes the Nonprofit Is Capable of Carrying Out the Project

PacifiCorp ratepayers in Oregon and California are contributing $200 million for the project but the plan allows the utility to avoid liability for additional costs. Another $250 million would come from a 2014 voter-approved California water bond.
But two weeks ago, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission made a decision that could threaten the deal. The agency approved the license transfer on condition that PacifiCorp remain a co-licensee with the Klamath River Renewal Corp.
The agency said it believes the nonprofit is capable of carrying out the project, and it is concerned that the corporation “has limited finances and no experience with hydropower dam operation or dam removal.”
“Costs could escalate beyond the level anticipated and unexpected technical issues could arise. Were the Renewal Corp. to be the sole licensee, it might ultimately be faced with matters that it is not equipped to handle,” the agency said.
The decision creates “significant” challenges but the corporation is confident it can work with stakeholders in the project to “once again craft a balanced solution,” said a letter to Newsom Thursday signed by Stefan A. Bird, president and chief executive officer of Pacific Power, which is owned by PacifiCorp.
“We share your concerns about social and environmental progress and remain committed to solving these deeply rooted cultural and community impacts,” the letter said.
Several tribes as well as fishing and conservation groups issued a joint statement urging Buffett’s support.

Coho Salmon From the Klamath River Are Listed as Threatened Under Federal and California Law

“Walking away from the agreement will put PacifiCorp ratepayers on the hook for all the risks and liabilities associated with fish kills, toxic algae blooms, lawsuits, and violations of tribal rights,” the statement said. “We urge Warren Buffett and PacifiCorp to end the delays and move the dam removal process forward immediately.”
The dams are the southernmost of six built in southern Oregon and California’s far north beginning in 1918 to provide electrical power. They are also part of an irrigation system serving vast farming areas.
The four dams to be demolished lack concrete chutes called fish ladders through which fish can pass to reach upstream spawning areas. Renewing the licenses would require hundreds of millions of dollars in federally mandated modifications, including adding fish ladders.
Coho salmon from the Klamath River are listed as threatened under federal and California law, and their population in the river has fallen anywhere from 52% to 95%. Spring chinook, once the Klamath Basin’s largest run, has dwindled by 98%.
Fall chinook, the last to persist in any significant numbers, have been so meager in the past few years that the Yurok canceled fishing for the first time in the tribe’s memory.
More than 1,700 aging dams have been dismantled around the U.S. since 2012, according to the nonprofit group American Rivers. The Klamath River project would be the largest by far if it proceeds.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified Faces New Legal Claim Alleging Top Official Trapped Employee in Car

DON'T MISS

Clovis Police Arrest Two in Connection to Caleb Quick’s Murder

DON'T MISS

Elizabeth Smart Shares Harrowing Kidnap, Assault Experience with Fresno

DON'T MISS

US Military Ordered to Pull Books on Diversity, Gender Issues

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Authorities Seek Public’s Help in Huron Homicide

DON'T MISS

UN Agencies Warn That Israel’s Plans for Aid Distribution Will Endanger Lives in Gaza

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Officer Arrested on Sexual Battery Charges

DON'T MISS

Mayor Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, Arrested at ICE Detention Center He Has Been Protesting

DON'T MISS

FDA Will Allow Three New Color Additives Made From Minerals, Algae and Flower Petals

DON'T MISS

Pentagon Directs Military to Pull Library Books That Address Diversity, Anti-Racism, Gender Issues

UP NEXT

Leo XIV’s Service to Poor Propelled Him to Papacy, Cardinals Say

UP NEXT

The State Law Taking a Financial Toll on California Budgets

UP NEXT

‘Luigi Mangione Act’ Seeks to Block Health Insurance Denials, Sparks Outrage Over Name

UP NEXT

Floods Exposed Weaknesses in California Prisons’ Emergency Plans. They Still Aren’t Ready

UP NEXT

Other States Are Showing California How to Protect Its Budget Without Cutting Needed Services

UP NEXT

Nitrous Oxide Recreational Use Risks: Brain Damage, Death, and Easy Access

UP NEXT

Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a Republican Who Became a Liberal Darling, Dies at 85

UP NEXT

Pope Leo XIV Celebrates First Mass as Pope and Calls His Election Both a Cross and a Blessing

UP NEXT

Selma Bear Sighting Prompts Police, Wildlife Response

UP NEXT

Republicans’ Trust in Media Increases Following Trump’s Return to White House

US Military Ordered to Pull Books on Diversity, Gender Issues

9 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Seek Public’s Help in Huron Homicide

9 hours ago

UN Agencies Warn That Israel’s Plans for Aid Distribution Will Endanger Lives in Gaza

10 hours ago

Fresno Police Officer Arrested on Sexual Battery Charges

10 hours ago

Mayor Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, Arrested at ICE Detention Center He Has Been Protesting

11 hours ago

FDA Will Allow Three New Color Additives Made From Minerals, Algae and Flower Petals

11 hours ago

Pentagon Directs Military to Pull Library Books That Address Diversity, Anti-Racism, Gender Issues

11 hours ago

Fresno Pays the Most for Electricity. What Are Lawmakers Doing About It?

11 hours ago

Freed Palestinian Student Accuses Columbia University of Inciting Violence

11 hours ago

First At-Home Test Kit for Cervical Cancer Approved by the FDA, Company Says

11 hours ago

Fresno Unified Faces New Legal Claim Alleging Top Official Trapped Employee in Car

Fresno Unified trustees on Wednesday will hear a claim for damages from a campus safety officer who alleges her supervisor, a top district o...

7 hours ago

https://www.communitymedical.org/thecause?utm_source=Misfit+Digital&utm_medium=GVWire+Banner+Ads&utm_campaign=Branding+2025&utm_content=thecause
7 hours ago

Fresno Unified Faces New Legal Claim Alleging Top Official Trapped Employee in Car

7 hours ago

Clovis Police Arrest Two in Connection to Caleb Quick’s Murder

8 hours ago

Elizabeth Smart Shares Harrowing Kidnap, Assault Experience with Fresno

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
9 hours ago

US Military Ordered to Pull Books on Diversity, Gender Issues

Fresno County authorities are seeking the public’s help to find the suspect who killed Jesus Adrian Amador Jr., 22, of Huron, in a 2017 shooting. (Fresno County SO)
9 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Seek Public’s Help in Huron Homicide

10 hours ago

UN Agencies Warn That Israel’s Plans for Aid Distribution Will Endanger Lives in Gaza

Photo of the front of Fresno Police Headquarters
10 hours ago

Fresno Police Officer Arrested on Sexual Battery Charges

11 hours ago

Mayor Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, Arrested at ICE Detention Center He Has Been Protesting

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend