Oregon Public Broadcasting

One of the largest power companies the Western United States agreed Wednesday to a landmark dam removal project.

PacifiCorp says it will destroy its four dams along the Klamath River, near the Oregon-California border.

Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey reports.

Tearing down the four dams on the Klamath River would be the largest dam removal in U.S. history. And it would open more than 300 miles of the river that was once home to one of the continent’s largest salmon runs.

This agreement isn’t final and faces several major obstacles before it is enacted – but many say the biggest roadblock has now been cleared.

Dean Brockbank is the vice president and general counsel for Pacificorp.

Dean Brockbank: “We believe that we’ve got an agreement here that really is in our customers best interest. We’ve also put the dam removal far enough out in the future, at 2020 at the earliest, for our customers to continue to benefit from relatively low cost, carbon-free power.”

Opponents of the deal, including Oregon Wild, say it still gives too much to farmers and the power company. But other environmental groups support the agreement because they say it could be an example for future dam removal projects.