Federal officials have approved a plan for demolition of four aging dams on the Klamath River at the foot of the Cascade Mountains on the California-Oregon border, in an effort to open up salmon habitat and restore the river by 2024.
The unanimous decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) allows for the $500 million demolition project, which would return the river to a free-flowing state for the first time in over a century. Removal of the dam could begin as early as the summer of 2023.
On Nov. 17, FERC unanimously approved a request from PacifiCorp to surrender licenses and decommission the Lower Klamath Project’s four hydroelectric dams in Oregon and California, ending decades of debate over the issue…