The rebirth of a historic river

[hunter]

For over a century, one of the most important salmon runs in the United States has had to contend with historic dams – and now four of them are set to be taken down.

"My great uncle and my grandma and my great grandparents and, I'm sure, their great grandparents: they were all fishermen. That's just what they did – they fished and it was out of necessity to support their families. And it's because that's what we've always done and we've never known another life," says Amy Cordalis, the general counsel of the Yurok, and a member of California’s largest indigenous tribe.

It’s hard to overstate how important this livelihood has been to the Yurok people who have lived for millennia in rural Northern California. And yet this livelihood has been diminishing for decades after the Klamath River – which flows through the tribe’s territory – was dammed for hydroelectricity. But now, after years of painstaking negotiations, the fortunes of the Yurok could be set to change, with the largest dam removal project in US history given the green light.

--more--

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201110-the-largest-dam-removal-project-in-american-history

This is good news.

[Bobstandard]

1. Except Warren Buffet stands in the way

Warren Buffet recently bought a controlling interest in Pacific Corp, the business that actually owns the dams. Buffet has caused Pacific Corp to renege on the long negotiated agreements that would bring down the dams. So all the bad things that happen in that river because of the dams that the article describes will continue and get worse all because The Sage of Omaha has decided to wring a little more money out of his investment. Note that Pacific Corp has for ten years been collecting increased rate payments from its customers to help pay for Pacific Corps already reduced share of removal costs. They’re not planning on giving that back to customers, of course.