Federal report boosts plan to remove 4 dams on Calif river

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal regulators have issued a final environmental impact statement that supports the demolition of four massive dams on Northern California’s Klamath River to save imperiled migratory salmon. The staff’s recommendation, which echoes an earlier draft opinion, tees up a vote on the nearly $500 million project by the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission later this year. The removal of the four hydroelectric dams would be the largest dam demolition project in U.S. history. The aging dams near the Oregon-California border were built before current environmental regulations and essentially cut the 253-mile-long river in half for migrating salmon.