Archived, Siskiyou

7 Need-To-Know Things About the Klamath Dam Removal Project

Clay sediment is much different than normal soils or sediment, and poses serious risks to ecosystems when mismanaged. Learn more at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bc4azmG1jI

Q: Mark Bransom the CEO of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (‘KRRC’) has said publicly in press releases by KRRC and in public forums in-person that ‘everything is going as planned’.  Is that true?
A: NO!   Arguably, on several occasions KRRC and their contractor Resource Environmental Solutions (‘RES’) have gone off the Plan and EIS that was approved by the processes known as NEPA and CEQA that are in place to protect our environment. It seems there are several serious problems stemming from KRRC and RES going off plan were cited in a long Letter written to the administrators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (‘FERC’) by the environmental law firm, Nossaman, representing Siskiyou County California and its citizens. 

Q: Were native species fishes and lifeforms down-river from the dam removal operations of KRRC killed? Mark Bransom has said publicly (County meeting) that ‘no native fish were killed, only warm water species’. Was that a true statement?
A: NO! In addition to the hundreds of thousands of warm-water lake fishes killedbillions of native lifeforms in the main-stem of the Klamath River below the dam removal operations were killed, including tens of thousands of native fishes (see images)
The down-river death toll also included native amphibians and reptiles, along with tens of millions of native Klamath River crayfish, a keystone foundational food (prey) for numerous fishes, including salmon and trout, as well as terrestrial life such as birds and raccoons. 

AND:

Dead Klamath River crayfish. Photo courtesy Lindsay Rhea

Photo above shows dead Klamath signal crayfish. This crayfish (P. leniusculus klamathensis) is native to the Klamath River, where it was formerly abundant and widespread. 

Q: The Collier Rest Area serves over 1-million visitors annually. Was polluted clay sediment infiltration and water contamination in the Klamath River at the Collier Rest Area on I-5 the reason that required California’s most popular rest area on I-5 to close?
A: YES!  Based-on experiences by farmers and ranchers up-river from the Collier Rest Area, whose commercial irrigation pumps burned-out and large diameter pipes plugged up, the answer is yes!

Q: Was this also ‘part of the plan’, as in, “going as planned“?
A: NO! And when things don’t go as planned, these adverse events are covered-up or misepresented in propaganda. The Collier Rest Area debacle is just one more thing, in a string of things, not ‘going as planned’. Microscopic polluted clay sediment has been heavily present in the Klamath River going on 8-months straight. And this will cost taxpayers thousands of additional dollars, since much of the plumbing system at Collier Rest Area will require replacement, including much/all of the underground piping. The polluted clay sediment that impacted the Collier Rest Area is the very same clay sediment that plugged-up and damaged heavy-duty large-scale commercial irrigation systems of ranchers up River. Now it’s doing the same in the Collier Rest Area, plugging up pipes, valves, toilets, sinks, water fountains and sprinkler systems. And this doesn’t even begin to address the polluted water that may have already been ingested by pets and people at this rest area.

Q: Do plants incorporate heavy metals and other toxins into their tissues from polluted soils and water?
A: YES!  Numerous peer-reviewed published scientific studies show that plants do take-up toxins and heavy metals and integrate them into their tissues.

Q: When insects, wildlife and game animals like rabbits and deer eat these plants, are toxins and heavy metals accumulated into the tissues of animals?
A: YES!  Well-known settled-science has documented the process of bio-accumulation and bio-amplification of toxins and non-essential heavy metals into insects, birds, small and large mammals (livestock) and into humans.

Q: Are there non-essential heavy metals and other toxins in the exposed sediments being planted in the Iron Gate and Copco Lake sediment beds that are subject to insect and animal herbivores?
A: YES! The CDM Smith Study of 2011, speaks of numerous organic toxins and heavy metals in various concentrations in the lakebed sediments. That point is beyond any debate. And the presence of these organic and heavy metal toxins are in conflict to recorded statements by KRRC’s representatives.

Just to name a very few of the toxins found as listed in the CDM Smith Study:

DDT, PCB, Dioxin, Lead, Arsenic, Cadmium and many others. SEE THIS STUDY.

Lots of studies show that is the truth that is being covered-up in the Klamath Dam Removal being headed by Klamath River Renewal Corporation (‘KRRC’) and Resource Environmental Solutions (‘RES’).

Here is one of many studies that speaks about plants taking-in toxins and non-essential heavy metals from polluted soils and then introducing toxins into wildlife and livestock, and potentially humans through the food chain.  

*Trophic transfer, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification of non- essential hazardous heavy metals and metalloids in food chains/ webs—Concepts and implications for wildlife and human health
Hazrat Ali and Ezzat Khan

Conclusions (from the *study)

Industrialization and urbanization have caused an increase in the anthropogenic sources and input of heavy metals in the environment. Heavy metals are usually regarded as hazardous in the environment due to their toxicity, persistence, and bioaccumulative nature. Cd, Pb, Hg, and As are biologically non-essential elements and are generally considered as the most haz- ardous elements for living organisms. These heavy metals have affinity for S atom in enzymes and their interaction with enzymes results in disruption of enzyme activity. They also cause oxidative damage by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS), which trigger unwanted biochemical and physiological changes in the body. Such alterations in normal body functions lead to different diseases and health problems including neurological prob- lems, nephropathy, osteoporosis and osteomalacia, endocrine disruption, cancer and tumors, mutations, physical birth defects, etc. Both aquatic and terrestrial organisms are exposed to these heavy metals in polluted environments. These elements are transferred from the abi- otic environment to living organisms resulting in bioaccumulation and sometimes biomag- nification of these elements in the food chains. Soil-to-plant transfer of these elements is an important route for entry of these elements into the food chains. Bioaccumulation of these elements in biota leads to contamination of the food chains with these elements. Enrichment of these heavy metals in biota adversely affects the health of the exposed organisms and their consumers. Thus, bioaccumulation and biomagnification of these non-essential heavy metals has important implications for wildlife and human health.


2 Comments

  1. Wow, it ALL made sense after I saw you were one of those ‘horses are native’ wackjobs. Please save intelligent people time by posting your bio at the top
    Anyway, knowing that, I don’t think I’ll waste my time correcting your myriad of other BS statements in this article.

    • Greetings Everyone: Dam removal is a serious subject, which is why I’m taking a minute to write this comment.

      As we see, aside from the obvious fact that this Liana person is a politically motivated dam removal propagandist, she has nothing intelligent to say, no science, just ad-hominem attack. And virtually all phycologists agree that when someone is ‘too ignorant’ to debate intelligently, they become defensive and simply resort to name calling like a grade-schooler, because that’s all they have, which shows they lost the debate before it started. ‘Ignorant’ is not the same as ‘stupid’. Stupid people cannot learn. Ignorant people just haven’t leaned something yet. For instance, and as an example, even though among my vocations I am a commercial instrument pilot, with ‘jet time’ and a college degree, I am ignorant in astrophysics. I am uncertain as to the status of Liliana, but she is certainly ignorant in the sciences related to history, dam removal, sediments, hydraulics, fisheries, and of course, the evolution of horses in North America. For the folks here who are interested in seeing how easily we debunk this pathetically ignorant woman, we go to what Dr. Ross MacPhee had to say about the ‘nativeness’ of wild horses. Dr. MacPhee is the curator of mammalogy at the prestigious American Museum of Natural History, and has been acknowledged as the world’s leading expert on the evolution of equids… and he says that Liana is wrong… so she can just suck it up. https://cowboystatedaily.com/2022/09/13/letter-to-the-editor-rod-miller-is-wrong-horses-are-not-an-invasive-species/

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