The removal of dams on the Klamath River will create about 4,600 jobs over 15 years, boost farm income, and benefit tribal and commercial fisheries.
It also will cost $290 million, take away about 50 hydropower jobs, decrease some property values, and diminish some recreational opportunities.
Those are some of the conclusions in a draft environmental impact statement the U.S. Interior Department will make public Thursday. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar outlined these and other conclusions in the report Monday in a speech to San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club.
According to a prepared text of Salazar’s speech, the analysis will show that the most probable cost of removing the four dams is around $290 million in 2020 dollars, which is below the $450 million state cost cap identified in the 2010 Klamath Hydroelectricity Settlement Agreement.
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