Busting Myths about the Klamath Dam Removal

Mike Belchik, senior fisheries biologist with the Yurok Tribe, joins Gang Green to give an update on  Klamath dam removal (spoiler: it's on track to be completed by 2024!) and helps resolve a number of myths concerning the Klamath dams that you might see shared on social media. To wit: (1) No, it won't increase in-stream water temperature (dams do that); (2) No, it won't result in severe flooding (these are hydroelectric dams, not flood control dams, and don't operate to control flooding); Yes, while there is a loss of power generation, that power generation is not very large (~170MW at full capacity, which hardly ever happens) and the power is not particularly low-carbon when you consider the methane produced by the reservoir behind the dams. Support the show