The HRC does not support the development of new dams, diversions, dikes, or reservoirs, although HRC encourages the research and development of pumped storage at previously disturbed sites where the project will have minimal environmental and recreational impacts.
The Hydropower Reform Coalition is committed to fighting climate change, and to doing so in a way that prioritizes and increases the resilience of ecosystems and local communities. Hydropower has a place in a 100% clean energy economy, but that place must be carefully determined to both ensure that hydropower assets accelerate climate change mitigation and to minimize the worst impacts from this energy source.
Less than six years ago, the second of two dams on the Elwha River, on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, was taken out to provide access for fish to the upper river located in the Olympic National Park. Since then, we have witnessed a remarkable transformation of the river – and of the wildlife that depend on it. Before the dams were installed in the early 1900s, the Elwha produced consistent and robust runs of salmon and steelhead and was a productive fishery. Afterwards, these runs dwindled almost to nothing.
The economic analysis of the proposed Goldendale pumped storage project near the Columbia River shows it is unlikely that this project will be financially viable.
Earlier this year, California Trout released our Top 5 California DAMS OUT report which profiles obsolete dams that are ripe for removal. This month, they’re taking a closer look at the Klamath Dams.