Klamath dams owner pulls key water quality application

The owner of several hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River has pulled a vital California water quality permit application, saying the move is meant to facilitate a long-term settlement for the project.

Pacificorp wrote to the State Water Resources Control Board Friday, withdrawing its application for water quality certification necessary for the hydroelectric project to be relicensed. The decision comes during discussions with federal fish and wildlife agencies about the future of the dams.

A tenuous but still holding settlement agreement on a host of other water, fisheries and agriculture issues among more than two dozen tribes, environmental groups, farmers and fishing organizations was presented earlier this year. Missing is Pacificorp and a deal to remove the dams that block hundreds of miles of spawning grounds for salmon.

Serious concerns about how the reservoirs behind Pacificorp's dams brew heavy algae growth and otherwise deteriorate water quality had led many to believe California water quality regulators would deny the certification of the project. Pacificorp wrote to the water board Friday that it intends to submit another application in the near future.