Letter: No evidence to remove dams

by Rex Cozzalio Hornbrook, Calif,  Wallowa County Chieftain,

Dear Editor,

Regarding the editorial on the Klamath dams:

Finally, someone who has actually read the AIP, KBRA, related documents and followed the progression of events in search of the truth, unlike those gaining benefit by creating and interchanging self serving "evidence" and those well intentioned but lacking the actual historical background to see beyond the rhetoric!

Thank you for a breath of fresh air in a whirlwind of self interest.

Living for generations directly below where Iron Gate Dam now sits, before and after, and above any other confluence, we receive perhaps the "greatest" actual effects of the dams along the entire river. "In the water" over 50 times per year for over 50 years, I can honestly say the water quality, quantity, riparian stability, algae, and even temperatures are better because of the dams. Having presented to agencies and legislators in Washington D.C., to the Oregon Senate SB 76 committee, and to various regulating agencies, there appears little to no interest in the documented and experienced history and current realities and solutions, only in the political and financial benefits produced from the hundreds of millions spent and the billions to come from the ratepayers and taxpayers funding what will prove to be the most extensive asset reallocation in U.S. history.

Unfortunately, unlike the completely unheeded proven options available at a fraction of the cost that would satisfy all needs except for those seeking unearned advantage, the current direction will produce nothing but un-returnable disaster for the individuals, communities, ratepayers, taxpayers, and the Klamath environment they claim to protect. It will set into motion an unstoppable historically proven progression to total Klamath watershed shutdown for all but the powerful and wealthy, with those promoting the devastation inversely receiving the least consequence of failed decision.

Rex Cozzalio Hornbrook, Calif.