Water pollution suit aims to make dams' cost prohibitive

GRANTS PASS, Ore. - Conservationists are increasing pressure on PacifiCorp to remove hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River to help struggling salmon runs, warning they will sue to stop pollution from a fish hatchery the utility owns. Klamath Riverkeeper, an affiliate of the Waterkeeper Alliance headed by Robert Kennedy Jr., has sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue under the Clean Water Act to PacifiCorp and the California Department of Fish and Game. The utility owns the hatchery at Iron Gate Dam in Holbrook, Calif., and the department operates it. Both would be defendants. The aim of a suit would be to make PacifiCorp pay to upgrade the hatchery. PacifiCorp would then take on the environmental and social costs of the pollution, rather than imposing them on the salmon and people downstream, said attorney Daniel Cooper, who represents Klamath Riverkeeper.

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