COPCO 1 DRAWDOWN DAM BLAST. Klamath River, California

January 23rd, 2024, a 12 ft. diameter tunnel was blasted at the base of the 101-year-old Copco 1 dam on the Klamath River, initiating reservoir drawdown prior to dam removal. An estimated 4000 cubic feet a second of water and sediment was released. The dam will be entirely removed by the end of 2024.
This past summer, crews blasted a 90 ft. adit tunnel at the base of the dam, inserted pipe, and armored it with boulders and 1000 yards of concrete. 800 lbs. of dynamite was used to blast the remaining concrete plug to set the river free, and a surge of water barreled several miles past the former Copco 2 dam and the majestic Wards Canyon that had been mainly dewatered for a century and into newly formed river channels in the former Iron Gate Reservoir.
This documentation is part of a 6-year independent feature film about the Undamming of the Klamath River and the 20-year campaign behind it. Our productions are made possible through grants and private donations.
Tax-deductible donations are available through The Redford Center if you are interested in supporting this work.
www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted...
Blast team: Drill Tech
Contractor: Kiewit Corporation
Blast Contractor: Mc Donegan drilling and blasting
Owners rep: McMillen Corporation
Owner: Klamath River Renewal Corporation
Film Production: Swiftwater Films
COPYRIGHT: SWIFTWATER FILMS LLC

[@deana280]

I grew up here. My dad worked for pp&l. I walked across that dam a hundred times to go hiking. Our house was up above. Lots of fond memories riding motorcycles around the lake. Good times.

[@John-oz5xe]

Hi Deana. From the Richards family.

[@KurtElliott]

Did you know Wally Lemus or his family?

[@matthewdavis1658]

My grandfather Lester Weiler had a house on the lake back in the day. I spent a ton of summers and a lot of Christmases there. Sad to see it gone

[@user-qp5uz1ul8z]

Keep. The. Dams

[@RamoneRitchie]

​@@user-qp5uz1ul8z found a cop co lake resident wanna keep algae lake

[@georgehaydukeiii6396]

That vent pipe really added a cool effect. This flow should clean out Wards canyon real good. Super cool video, thanks!

[@taylrmt]

Any video of the pulse moving downstream?

[@Calatriste54]

Oh, surely they thought this through.. Happy Camp, Somes Bar, Weitchpec, Klamath..

[@PDXDrumr]

Plenty if you look around. The creative wasn't huge, but it was evident.

[@damonchampion823]

More camera angles including behind the Dan to see the drain down wouid be great. Like the Condit dam videos. Great work

[@John-oz5xe]

I also worked for PP@L I worked on all the Klamath river dams for 22 years. to those who are going to be in charge of managing the return of the salmon. Have you plans to build a salmon hatchery above Klamath lake, You really should to speed up the return of the salmon to that area.

[@swashington942]

You do realize this isn't Minecraft? This is a monumental project that will take a lot of time, money and work. You can always go help

[@jeffpalmer5502]

How about just stop the Indians from using nets?

[@rawleyhi998]

It's not about getting a harvestable salmon population right away, it's about literally stopping the wild run from going extinct. 🤦🏽‍♂️ Hatcheries are not the solution. Inbred, deformed salmon are not the solution. We need wild salmon, and Hatcheries are one of the biggest barriers to that. We need go get out of a mindset of production and into a mindset of conservation and rehabilitation.

[@justintime41776]

​@rawleyhi998 charging your stupid electric car for an hour pulls as much power as 1800 homes. Get educated. You're being sold out to China.

[@John-oz5xe]

I use to work at the iron gate spawning sheds on my days off from PP&L in hopes of finding a salmon that wasn't beat up and ready to die, they were few and far between.so, unless you use hatcheries to get things started you could be looking at many generations to get the salmon up to Klamath lake. If you want to improve your chances of getting wild salmon started above Klamath lake, go find a creek close to the mouth of the Klamath river, harvest some salmon eggs, take them up to the Williamson River, raise them however you wish, turn them out in the fall and if your lucky in 4 years you may get back one half of one percent. Oh, by the way, I have made 81 trips around the sun, and I don't drive much anymore, and I live 300 miles from shovel creek so could you go there in the fall and see if you see any salmon. @@rawleyhi998

[@brettronneberg892]

Very much appreciate your work to document this monumental effort. Thank you and keep it up! Can’t wait to see it all unfold.

[@fishmonger6879]

How long did it take the lake to drain?

[@KurtElliott]

We used to look down at Copco Lake every year on opening day of deer season, we would see a Bald Eagle just about every day from up there, in Google Street view I did spot the Eagle Nest now along the Klamath River up there, it's HUGE!!! it's all overgrown up there! One time we were having problems with one of the 4x4's so we sent our dad down to to town and walked back to camp cross country and I spotted a real Indian Tee Pee up there, I sure wish I had a camera with me, that thing was a big one! they used a tree that was outlawed that still grows up there, I am contacting the Indians up there to tell them about it, I doubt I will ever see it again, I can't walk like I used to!

[@dhobonov]

That is a cool story, Kurt. Thanks.

[@KurtElliott]

@@dhobonov Now its really getting overgrown up there, I wish I flew my drone a lot more the last time we went there!

[@gogoat_2894]

The Natives in this area did not have Tee Pees. Not sure who built the one you seen but around here they had wood plank houses.

[@KurtElliott]

@@gogoat_2894 Wikipedia said they had them up there, I sure wish I had a phone back when I seen the Tee Pee, I would have GPS marked it on the maps and took pictures of it!!! I am shocked the tribe did not get back to me after I wrote to them about it! Man, I was in a different area up there and there was a Rattlesnake, I got away from that thing, it was able to go under the leaves a long ways without being seen, I also was watching a bear one time across the canyon so I got off my rock and started looking for my dad and ended up getting charge by a different one before it turned down the draw and crossed it, they were pretty big bears, there were a lot of them up there that year, one even crapped on my rock after I left it before I got back to it, I don't think it was the same bear since the one that charged me crapped a HUGE mess! Thanks for commenting!

[@atomicwedgie8176]

@@gogoat_2894 Native what?

[@AhJodie]

That was fun, but I was expecting a lot more blasting and then water moving out super-fast! But it is moving fast, just hard to tell from this distance. Thank you for sharing. I am glad this is done!

[@SHC713]

An analysis was done on the outflow, lots of heavy metals, many were way beyond allowable limits.

[@richardevans3084]

Damn i thought the whole thing was going to blow up in one big Bang😀 That was more like a Wet Fart.

[@984francis]

You didn't read the caption notes?

[@davewebb4734]

Great Vid. Thank you Swiftwater for posting this.

[@user-sn3ll8vn2e]

Well Done Shane!

[@majorpayne8373]

That was a dam blast!

[@barrybeckford2733]

Have to wonder how history will remember all this...good or bad idea?

[@johngreydanus2033]

Man won't be around long enough to make that judgement

[@robertslugg8361]

It will be remembered as a good idea because no liberal has ever admitted to making a mistake, you know, like Measure 110.

[@Z06forthewin]

Bad idea. Thanks Newsom

[@robhartshorn6823]

It will definitely will be remembered as bad but the lunatics are running the asylum right now.

[@philsalvatore3902]

@@Z06forthewin Governor Newsom had nothing to do with this. The negotiations for the removal of the Klamath River Dams dates back to the George W. Bush administration and involved native tribes, various Federal agencies, the power companies, environmental groups and Oregon farmers. The project was held up in 2020 by FERC the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency over conditions they placed on removing a power source, but that dispute was eventually resolved and dam removal on the lower Klamath River proceeded. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the California Governor who's administration represented California interests in those negotiations. The push for dam removal came from native tribes in Oregon. Please keep your history straight.

[@patmcbride9853]

Anyone building or grading near the river that doesn't use barriers to prevent silt runoff can be fined. Ironic.

[@jaredb6934]

I think you missed the point.

[@patmcbride9853]

@@jaredb6934 Went right over your head.

[@rodeye2]

The point is dam removal will do virtually nothing to improve fish habitat.

[@edm7356]

@@rodeye2 Except actually let fish into the blocked habitat. And yes, it will also improve the habitat in time!

[@rodeye2]

@@edm7356 a hundred years minimum, if there are any left by then. It hasn't improved fisheries on the Rogue yet.

[@susandavis7115]

oh gawd... i actually got a little teary eyed & choked up. TOO SWEET!

[@bigbird2451]

Wow. I figured they would work from the top down. Not all at once. Physics can sometimes be so simple and sometimes so crazy.

[@ArnCital]

How many years before the sediment on the spawning beds is gone and the salmon have gravel beds to spawn in?

[@h2s142]

One season

[@PDXDrumr]

​@@h2s142gravel is there,

[@DvorahDavida5778]

@@h2s142 no way.

[@davidinsocal3032]

Estimations are years, just from this one catastrophic event. Supporters who don't know better and support these boondoggles will say weeks/months. Killing the ecosystems trying to save it....Yup; makes sense to me!! Glad I bailed this craphole that was my home state for 68 years......

[@thomasokeeffe4719]

Salmon and steelhead mostly spawn in tributaries not the main stem of rivers unless high up in the headwaters. Smaller amounts will spawn in the mainstem at select locations but not the majority. The sediment will move to the ocean depending upon the rainfall and river flow. They think about 90% in approximately 3-5 years with average rainfall and river flow.

[@12TribesUnite]

Cool! How old is this dam?

[@colleenmarino6781]

100 years

[@johnrday2023]

Looks like a lot of silt in the discharge !

[@chazman4461]

Every dam has tons of silt on the bottom.

[@blee3509]

I had to fast forward to about 1:12 before the explosion.

[@mdemarco42]

What explosion? 😅🤣 That was the worst "blast" ever.

[@dwamish]

​@mdemarco42 well, they ARE just unchaining a river, not making a Michael Bay movie.

[@dadskrej5226]

Shocking and well done video! But...how many fish/animals did the release kill with the turbidity/scouring of the river?

[@Cthulus_left_tentacle]

These damns have been killing salmon and steelhead for more than a century. The release of the river will create better ecosystems than the stagnant and deoxygenated reservoirs

[@bigjared8946]

There will be a continuous net gain over time for this short term sacrifice.

[@pikkonnanu6366]

Remember what happened after the St. Helen's eruption.. mother nature will bounce back.

[@lkevincurry]

I believe the fish that were killed were non-native species. The salmon have returned to the Elwha River in Washington. Looking forward to following their return to the Klamath.

[@lynndale4718]

That first 1:15 was sort of like watching paint dry.

[@johngreydanus2033]

or water not flowing

[@herbchilds1512]

Very impressive, but did they notify the communities downstream? (Medford resident.)

[@sonyajordan2683]

Yes.

[@thedubwhisperer2157]

I used to work for a company called Atlas Copco. Any connection?

[@georgea.9684]

Rivers need to flow! 😃👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻

[@natehill8069]

Why did they blow it up? Didnt need so much electricity anymore, or had too much water already?

[@DJResR420]

Old dams are flash flood waiting to happen._

[@ktcat1]

The dam was racist.

[@DaPlenThing]

They were restoring the river it was blocking off

[@jasminelindros8923]

All dams have finite lifespans as they prevent sediment from moving downriver, and so the reservoir slowly fills with mud. Mud does not generate electricity, nor does it irrigate downstream crops. Eventually the cost of maintaining and repairing the dam and associated infrastructure becomes greater than the revenue generated by the dam, and dam owners are faced with the choice of removing the dam or losing money from now on.

[@molehogadventures6615]

Awesome

[@Skidderoperator]

Why did the dam continue to stand?

[@biohazard_613]

That blast was just to draw down the lake. They’re using heavy equipment for the dam removal.

[@ombhamare522]

You should turn on comments for the other videos too.

[@smeggedup]

Why was it blown ?

[@robhartshorn6823]

Because common sense is gone.

[@John-oz5xe]

because the bypass tunnel gates were made in operable about 100 years ago.

[@jamesk641]

I though Cali had power issues? Another generation facility gone regardless. Less power more elec. vehicles and power requirements, does not bode well for residents. When you move to red, don't vote blue or you will end up in the same spot.

[@brucepoole8552]

Bring back the salmon! Excellent work

[@massive611]

editing left the chat.

[@DaPlenThing]

It’s not editing lil bro They’re restoring a river that was blocked off for a very long time This can’t really be replicated with editing

[@massive611]

@@DaPlenThing OK big bro. I was referring to the fact that there is 1 minute of video left in the beginning that shows nothing. The action begins around the 1 minute mark, hence the "editing" comment.

[@DaPlenThing]

@@massive611oooooooohhhh I see what u mean now

[@massive611]

@@DaPlenThing haha no problem. :)

[@grandpagrandmajustkeepgoin4560]

Why didn’t they remove the building and stuff first?

[@anastasiaterreri7411]

They're doing that afterwards.

[@jayfriberg2789]

Skip to 1:10 for the boom.

[@frankmarin5421]

Go look at the Collier bridge and tell me that dredging kills fish more than this. Cal.Fish ang Game

[@rburnett6266]

Next? The 3 gorges Dam... ..which is collapsing by itself...😮

[@rkitleli]

That is not going to happen mate🤣

[@peezim]

After 100 years, freedom, partially.

[@johnnybk20]

And away goes trouble down the drain:

[@philiphorner31]

Damned shame what the rich men North of Richmond do.

[@bobelliott2748]

That killed a million salmon. but as long as two survive there will be a million salmon again...for a long time

[@-108-]

Makes PERFECT sense to remove dams in a drought stricken state. Perfect sense. Gotta look out for those little Delta Smelts et al, after all.

[@philsalvatore3902]

The Klamath River doesn't drain into the Sacramento Delta. The push for dam removal came from native tribes seeking to restore the salmon runs they have traditionally depended on for food and are part of their culture. 80-90 years ago salmon was so abundant on the west coast that it was called "poor man's steak". The Sacramento River was unique in the world for hosting four distinct salmon runs per year. All of those runs are nearly extinct due to damming of the Sacramento River and other Rivers that feed the Sacramento. Friant Dam destroyed the salmon run on the San Joaquin River. Damming rivers has destroyed the salmon runs up and down the west coast and destroyed a whole fishing industry. It gutted towns like Fort Bragg California that once had a huge fleet of salmon fishing boats and a similarly large canning industry ashore. All of that is gone now because salmon are so scarce. But the farmers always want more more more water. Even in someplace as arid as California and eastern Oregon (Oregon east of the cascades where the Klamath River runs is high desert and very dry) farmers waste water with open ditch irrigation. Why? Because the price of water is held artificially low for the farmers by Federal regulators who set the prices and determine who gets how much water.

[@-108-]

@@philsalvatore3902 Fact is, the way of life for millions of people has changed all over the US and the world since the advent of the industrial age. Millions more lives, and ways thereof, are more determentally altered by changing everything up to allow some salmon to swim and some Native Americans to enjoy them. CA neither receives not contains enough water to adequately supply the farms and humans that need it to stay in the game of life. At some point, the present tense has to be accepted and respected. If you're gonna change CA's way of life up merely for nostalgia's sake, then you'd better change everything back to the way it was, without exception; And then see how far that gets everyone.

[@DvorahDavida5778]

The push did not come from the tribes. Just be glad that YOU don’t live downriver. All the ecosystems along the river are destroyed now. @@philsalvatore3902

[@philsalvatore3902]

@@-108- The farmers in Oregon and California are greedy. As a home owner I am expected to reduce my water use 15-20% to meet conservation goals but the farmers face no similar requirements. They demand a scarce commodity, water, at taxpayer subsidized prices and when that isn't enough pump so much water out of the ground that the ground subsides to the point that the very irrigation canals they depend on develop big sags and won't flow any more. They suck so much water out of the ground they lower the water table below the wells of some towns, leaving them without water for their residents. Meanwhile they waste water with open ditch irrigation or flooding of orchards. Farmers should be made to use drip irrigation systems. They should be mandatory in a world where water is scarce but that is not how it is. The farmers are perfectly happy to put the fishing industry out of business and deprive the tribes of the salmon they depends on for food so they can waste taxpayer subsidized water. Even where I live out in the desert the pistachio and alfalfa farmers used about 2 1/2 times as much ground water as is recharged by snow melt, one farm alone uses 50% more water than natural recharge, yet the farmers are suing the local town trying to prevent restrictions on pumping. What are they thinking? You want to talk about change. Well farming as it is currently practiced in the western US has to change. That means no more open ditch irrigation of row crops, probably removing many orchards since those cannot be fallowed during a drought and because the commodity, nuts, is mostly exported (meaning the arid west is exporting its scarce water so some farmers can make a buck). This has to stop and the rivers and aquifers returned to a more natural balance.

[@-108-]

@@philsalvatore3902 TL;DR Bottom line is food cost. Farmers have to remain competitive, and farmers paying more for water makes everything more expensive, putting them out of business. CA is already a terrible state in which to do business due to the taxes and regulation there. Add high water cost to the mix and it's recipe for disaster. The water problem in CA is a MAN MADE CRISIS. All CA has to do is retain the water it gets every year from snow melt and it would be fine. But drought is a big money business for politicians and the state, so don't expect the chronic "drought" to end anytime soon, even if every reservoir gets filled to overcapacity. It's all 1 big farce.

[@acyron]

I thought Califoney had a water shortage. Does look like a lot of water spilling downstream.

[@cptbuiltk7944]

Low iq

[@scottwilson9404]

My parents live on the Klamath River. Yesterday my dad walked 50 yards along the river and counted more than 100 dead fish along the shore. The sediment is piled up on the shore too. Not much is going to live through this.

[@scottwilson9404]

Update, one week later. 300+ fish dead on the shore. River otters are gone. Crawfish are dead. Birds of pray have left now too… Hoping the river recovers. Right now they are killing the entire eco system.

[@jasminelindros8923]

@@scottwilson9404 This project is not intended to provide any benefits over the next couple of years. The project is aimed at re-establishing a stable ecosystem starting five years from now. Bring your grandkids to the river 30 years from now and describe to them how much it has improved.

[@Regulategoogle]

The dam is still standing..

[@lazaruslazuli6130]

Wow, I could have grown a crop of corn between the klaxon and the blast.

[@jasminelindros8923]

That's deliberate. Blasting regulations require at least a minute between alarm and blast to allow everyone to run like hell when they hear the alarm and get clear of the affected area.

[@kevinh4631]

All that millions of tons of silt just getting washed down stream to smother the spawning gravel, and yet millions more tons to be washed down the rest of the year till the grasses take over on the old lake bed.

[@kevinferguson2131]

Everything is dead now in this river.

[@rpittswiyothhs]

So cool! Let the Salmon run! Great start letting the river flow and get the reservoir empty before starting demo. Great day!

[@MrFun222222222]

Lay-off the KoolAid, Twinkie.

[@Adamu98]

Amen to that.

[@-o-The-Duke-o-]

There isn't a salmon alive that came from above that dam.

[@DvorahDavida5778]

Right. This is disaster. @@-o-The-Duke-o-

[@craigholbrook7420]

What a dam mistake.

[@hoggybhoy1967]

1:14 for any dam action 🤷‍♂️😂🍀

[@oldworldchris4187]

Awesome!

[@kgsails7102]

Well, that just sent MILLIONS of tons of dirt, silt and debris downstream. Really brilliant.

[@georgehaydukeiii6396]

Life is just one big series of give and takes.... sacrifices. Yes, there will be some sediment moving down stream , but it will clear soon, and the river will recover from one of the worst mistakes humans made. Everything will be ok, just wait and see.

[@carfvallrightsreservedwith6649]

Bound to happen w/100 yr old dam. The sediment would've been there anyway, the dam just delayed its journey. When removal is finally complete the ecosystem that was once there will return.

[@MrJbfixer]

@@carfvallrightsreservedwith6649 that sediment, flowing unimpeded over 100 years is nothing compared to the accumulated 100 year absolute deluge of slop released within a few minutes time. So much for the established ecosystem..

[@kevinwaalker]

@@MrJbfixer Don't know much about nature do you? Maybe watch the revival of the Ewall river same situation . Live watch and learn.

[@MrJbfixer]

@@kevinwaalker knowing much about nature or not, this amount of silt certianly isn't all that beneficial to the immediate future of what ecosystem was established, One doesn't have to be a scientist to figure out that amount of sh*t suddenly being released has a detrimental effect on wildlife.. I deal with state agency of natural resources regularly, and their regulations and best practices suggestions to reduce silt and fine particles from roadside ditches getting into waterways are fairly lengthy. There surely has to be a better more controlled method to release and filter/capture all that built up sediment than this. Your comment is unhelpful. Bye.

[@randyb1890]

I watch all these videos on dams, coal and oil fired power plants all being demolished and I wonder who decided we don't need electric anymore. I guess we go back to the old days and work sun up to sun down while we have light and solar power. (unless it's cloudy). I guess flood control is no longer a thing either.

[@gregweinfurtner7774]

So any plans to rebuild hydro power dam/dams in the canyon? It's a VERY green source of electricity.

[@lelenbates3367]

No, they like giant wind and solar farms instead. Don't forget the state of California spent hundreds of millions of dollars on LNG fueling stations that never really got used. Natural gas and hydro are the enemy now, but so are humans.

[@dogmandan79]

Not in CA. They’d rather screw you over than help you out.

[@robertschaaf7192]

no

[@TiredAmerican247]

Dams aren’t an efficient source of energy. You’re probably a bot.

[@robhartshorn6823]

They would rather put in windmills that kill hundreds of thousands of birds than have hydroelectric power that harms fish runs. Makes lots of sense huh?

[@jamesvargas3016]

This is sad no water to the farmers. The power plant is no longe be working. The amount of fish that will die from this . The really bad thing is that the salmon will just be able to pass the town of Klamath falls.

[@bobbybeeman7280]

One bad thing to another, man always ruins nature it can never be as good as it once was and there are times when man does good and needs things that a minority believe other wise thereby devastating the new all to hell.

[@MrA1582000]

Beautiful

[@alberta1st]

Im glad the porta potty is okay...

[@jeremyduncan3654]

Control the water, control the people. Well played California. You’ve played yourselves.

[@maxinelouchis7272]

Next, they will ration water because there is no storage for dry years. Brilliant.

[@jeremyduncan3654]

@@maxinelouchis7272 any draught in CA is man made. I’ve watched billions of gallons flow through the Los Angeles and Orange County basin. The elected “representatives” are big FOS on that…

[@grandpagrandmajustkeepgoin4560]

@@maxinelouchis7272yes, our governor is a joke….

[@zbignoz.tunnlerwitz_109]

@@grandpagrandmajustkeepgoin4560 cant think of one governor from any state that isn't a joke.

[@werewoIf]

Clearly, you’ve been consuming too much politically charged, reactive nonsense. The only people they’ve played is morons who want to grow alfalfa in the desert.

[@patrickfogarty2601]

Who owns the "new" land?

[@qetuoification]

Native Americans

[@bobbybeeman7280]

Speakin of the Native Americans They should be reimbursed unto for ever, like the fishery is supposedly being done on account of this. Now they should be able to contue their past adventures in life as before ? Duh! fix the fish and do what about the people?

[@h2s142]

Natives dont own land

[@chuntai436]

@@h2s142What do you mean by Native Americans don’t own land? The land near the Klamath River was originally settled by Native Americans.Then they built the dams on the river for hydroelectric generation. However, these dams blocked 400 miles of spawning habitat for salmon and other fish. The Native Americans depended on the salmon for food, and they protested for the dams to be removed. Now the KKRC is working on demolishing the dams on the Klamath River. So you could say that the land near the Klamath River belongs to the Native Americans.

[@billfosher1151]

A true Taco Bell moment. (You were all thinking it -- I just said it.)

[@RedwoodsRising]

This is what making history looks like

[@ronbrusch7290]

Most dams were put in as flood control measures as well as all the other uses so when the next flood

[@meestirbig3083]

I want all of you Californians to come here with your precious EV's and then scratch your head and wonder why you can't charge those "dam" vehicles. Hydro power is one of the most clean generating concept ever developed. And, yes, this is how your power bills increase by double digit costs.

[@pputter1]

Not necessarily true. Hydro power, especially the very large projects, can have huge negative environmental impacts. And it is not always particularly economical. Don't take my word for this, but educate yourself.

[@craig0769]

The private company that owns and maintains these dams determined its best to take them offline as they no longer serve a useful purpose and are a drain on their finances.

[@meestirbig3083]

@@pputter1 You're kidding me, aren't you? What environmental impacts? Please lists. Let's take for example the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia. It was built in the 1930's. Tell me what environmental impacts. Now, compare that to the massive amount of electricity that it has provided for the last 90 years. Much of that is transmitted to California. If you're referring to fish, the fish are still there. Also, the temperature of the water may change. Usually, it gets colder. Further, river flows are controlled, so flooding and low water levels are minimized. The so called environmental impacts are a fraction of what the benefits that are produced. It's a win, win scenario. Hydroelectricity, does not pollute the air or the water. Tearing out the dams serves no purpose. What it all boils down to is, you need electricity. You can't have it through Nuclear, you can't have it through oil, nor natural gas, nor coal. So where? Wind and Solar produce only a minimal amount of electricity. And they're not able to keep up.

[@brandonk9706]

@@meestirbig3083 If you are still talking about the Columbia River, the fish are NOT still here. Before the dams, the Columbia River hosted 16 million salmon and steelhead. That number is now down to under a million and 106 salmon runs in the Columbia River Basin have gone completely extinct. I get that "The Pacific Northwest doesn't need its salmon and steelhead." is an opinion people can have, but it's not a popular one.

[@meestirbig3083]

@@brandonk9706 Well, it all comes down to this. An extremely small amount of people will get into their expensive drift boat and go down a wild river and catch a native salmon or steelhead and say "yea" I got me a salmon for my freezer. All the while tens of millions of people suffer from brown outs or outright blackouts because the electricity is not there. The government will tell you that you cannot have an air conditioner because of no power. Your precious EV will be limited because there isn't enough power. Everything has drawbacks and the reduced fish populations are one of those. No one wants nuclear, coal, natural gas, and wind and solar are not the answer, or at least at this time. If you are going to complain about the dams and the fish you are going to have to except the consequences. You can not "restore" your way out of energy production, it has to come from somewhere. Hydroelectric production is still the best that we have developed, it doesn't pollute the water or the air. Much of the United States growth occurred in the 20th century due to the development in the west through these technologies. If that bothers you, then do something about it. Go educate yourself and create a new source of energy.

[@robhartshorn6823]

This makes me want to puke. Sad times in America when common sense is gone. This is a fools errand!!

[@jasminelindros8923]

Your astonishing ignorance is why you're not an engineer, rob. All dams are temporary, as the reservoir created by the dam will slowly fill with mud. Mud does not generate electricity, nor does it irrigate downstream crops. However, it DOES eliminate flood storage capacity, and it DOES erode turbine blades. The cost of maintenance and repair gradually grows until it exceeds the revenue produced by the dam, and the dam will lose money forever after that. Do YOU want to be the one to explain to taxpayers that they're paying for a money-losing dam, and the cost will increase every year from now until the end of time?

[@robhartshorn6823]

@jasminelindros8923 🤣😂🤣😂 You have no idea what you are talking about, but go ahead and keep on pretending like you do.

[@jasminelindros8923]

@@robhartshorn6823 Are you allergic to actual facts, rob, or are you just astonishingly ignorant?

[@jasminelindros8923]

@@robhartshorn6823 Or are you both, and therefore a Republican?

[@matthewnowell671]

How are people going to get cheap electricity now?

[@davidnewman2541]

How will we charge our lectric cars?

[@rcstl8815]

I got an idea! Let's get rid of clean means of electric production so the fishes are safe! clap,clap,clap.

[@skyepilotte11]

Another stupid move to have fish rule the state...send this huge water volume down to the sea...great water management.

[@markbonner1139]

Y wasn't EVERYTHING DISMANTLED B 4 demo.?

[@RelaksasiAlam-zi9uq]

Hadirr

[@justintime41776]

Don't know how you're going to power all those electric cars. This is about as green as it gets. But it's understandable because a lot of you don't know which bathroom to use.

[@philsalvatore3902]

Dams destroy salmon and steelhead runs, make downstream water too warm for salmon smelt to survive in the summer and capture all the silt that should flow downstream to maintain sand bars and beaches. Yes, hydropower is renewable and zero carbon, but dams are not often benign to the environment.

[@johnhoward2900]

Our family used to rent a cabin in the summer months back in the 80s and 90s at Copco Lake. Forgive me for not sharing other commenter's enthusiasm. 😢

[@DoloresOsteocopi]

You must have shared many beautiful memories there. Now the river will ensure beautiful memories as well

[@maxinelouchis7272]

But no water for agriculture or drinking. Well, fish are more important after all.@@DoloresOsteocopi

[@gwhiten2158]

I’m all for the salmon but how are you going to charge your Tesla’s ????

[@DaPlenThing]

I don’t think it was a dam that made electricity but idk

[@ryan_niemi]

@@DaPlenThing The hydroelectric powerhouse containing the turbines and generators is right in the middle of the video.

[@wooshkabeeba132]

Scroll to 1:13 thank me later

[@douglaskeeling6974]

I don't understand Commiefornia. Aren't you all in desperate need of water?

[@jeffpalmer5502]

It’s fine to flush the sediment every now and then went to destroy a dam and power house is criminal. These people should be prosecuted for vandalism. Or terrorism.

[@larryg.9187]

I don't know... I was watching this clip... And now I feel really 'drained'... 😜 😖 ... Ha-ha !

[@timothycollette8263]

Well that was fuckin click bait....

[@calisingh7978]

Welcome to the breaking of the water, birthing ritual also reflected in the stars as above so below

[@chuckbarklow8898]

Great let’s make sure we have no water in California

[@donelmore2540]

Yeah, God forbid we actually build some water storage! I’m grateful that my CA house is on a well.

[@chriss1728]

Sounds dumb when they have water issues and haven't built anything for years. Oh yeah I know why!!!

[@gregbloch80]

I thought Californians needed power.

[@robertglennienz]

They do. But when when a dam has reached the end of its useful life, maintaining it becomes a liability, not just in a monetary sense. When you operate infrastructure like dams, it is more than just a duty to provide the electricity. It's a duty to maintain it, and make sure that it isn't causing undue environmental issues. Dams are good at trapping the sediment, causing build ups and depriving the ecosystem downstream of a steady supply.

[@kleetus92]

@@robertglennienz So they're going to rebuild it, right?

[@jhonsiders6077]

And water .

[@Adamu98]

​@@kleetus92no they're undaming the klamath river. The klamath is a major salmon spawning river. The project will remove 4 100 year old dams to allow salmon run up to their old spawning ground by the end of 24.

[@bobbybeeman7280]

@@robertglennienz Who is going to restore the trinosouruses and stuf the darned cave man killed. I tell it is sin, no wonder God repented of making man, what a blunder he created perhaps we should sue God?

[@2flight]

let er rip!!!

[@paulmorgan7814]

So when and how do u remove a dam w water flowing under it.??. Or that building?.?

[@ss442es]

Exactly how many megawatts of electricity was lost to this? This is a huge mistake. The EPA is totally out of control. 5.2 megawatts of electrical power was lost in minutes when a massive hail storm struck Scottsbluff Nebraska, and miles of wind farms froze up and could not produce power because the blades iced up. So, it makes a lot of sense to just start blowing up dams all over the Pacific Northwest that maintain hydro-electric power. People shouldn't listen to the cult of the EPA, right now the United States Air Force is bombing the skies woth aluminum, barium and other minute metalic particles that fall into the rivers, lakes and lungs of people all over the world and think nothing about it. Neither does eliminating cheap electical power it seems. Over the years the ecology had adjusted to the dam engineering for the people of the northwest and the California basin for water to sustain agriculture.

[@davidwarm6799]

To bad we lost more green power.

[@Adamu98]

To be honest I would rather have salmon. Daming up rivers cause major environmental changes most not good. There's plenty of green energy in California losing four dams along the California Oregon border is not going to change much in energy production.

[@jaysmith1408]

These dams are disproportionately small compared to the waterstream impact. For the same river obstruction, they don’t generate that much power. Twenty megawatt plate capacity. That’s only about ten average wind turbines.

[@ronpfeiffer9157]

Growing up with dams surrounding me and destroying the ecosystems and people's lives. They are never to be called green. They are dark and evil

[@Cthulus_left_tentacle]

Many were outdated and don’t generate a ton of power to begin with. But they do disrupt natural ecosystems and create massive reservoirs of warm, deoxygenated water that’s better off gone

[@TiredAmerican247]

What green power? These dams didn’t produce enough electricity to justify updating it. Educate yourself.

[@MrFun222222222]

Cliff Bentz didn't do jack-schit to save these dams. Cliffy needs to go.

[@shroopable]

Ha you’ll be fine

[@marksieber4626]

So you’d rather live around these 100 year old silt filled damns nobody wants to put money into for repairs. Go visit Johnstown, Pa. There’s a real cool museum there you ought to visit. That one was way past its prime. Enjoy the salmon!

[@dhobonov]

Cliffy needs to go salmon fishing.

[@ljprep6250]

Oh, he tried, but Leftists run our state. Good luck accomplishing anything which makes sense, or opposing anything that's braindead. They took out the dam a mile upstream from me, too.

[@davidjohnson2989]

It all bull shit

[@IndridCool54]

I would say the trade off is positive. Especially for the environment. Plenty of other ways to produce green energy. Welcome to the 21st century. 😎

[@robhartshorn6823]

😂😅😅😅😂

[@IndridCool54]

@@robhartshorn6823 Troglodyte? 😐

[@markharris6171]

Define "plenty". Oh yeah, "you will have nothing and be happy".

[@markharris6171]

​@@IndridCool54 Head up your a$$?

[@lownslowav8r]

Remember this day when we are asked to turn off our AC and experience power disruptions. We will regret this green revival crap.

[@thomasokeeffe4719]

Californians have been doing it for the past 7 years already. What's new

[@russellleavitt4449]

Boring wtf

[@shawnwarrington6517]

That was anticlimactic

[@davewebb4734]

Not downstream

[@francisgill8555]

Not if you live here

[@jasonwinters2708]

Absolutely not a cool video you can't see anything

[@robertslugg8361]

I see a reversal of progress, which is always the end result of progressives. They won't be happy until the earth is reduced to 10M people living in caves and gathering berries.

[@tobewobedj]

Worst video ever

[@dogmandan79]

Love how we blow up a damn bc a couple of native ppl demand fishing rights, but they don’t ever fish and can really just go to the store like everyone else.

[@sockoblocko]

Zero explosion

[@gmatwater]

Sure there was, at about 1:14 through 1:20. It's not Hollywood, they're not blowing the dam up, but they blew the plug that was obstructing that pipe so there was an explosion and a burst of water.

[@varukasalt]

So you say you got a sedimentation problem? No problem!