The Tribe's 1986 motion before FERC

During the 1970's the Tribe spent a disproportionate share of its resources overcoming Crown Zellerbach's resistance to dam repairs. More recently, as the result of changes in the law governing FERC, the Tribe had asked that agency to consider a more permanent solution to dam safety, the fisheries impacts of the two Crown Zellerbach dams, and their other downstream effects. In January 1986, the Tribe filed a motion before FERC asking the Commission to implement an interim fisheries restoration plan and a long term plan for the phase out and removal of the dams. The reasoning behind that motion is set out in the following paragraphs.

The dams trap the gravel that would otherwise wash downstream and replenish Reservation beaches. As a result, storms coming in from the Pacific are eroding the Reservation's saltwater shoreline and increasing flood risk. The dams also continue to cut off or ruin most of the river's spawning and rearing habitat for anadromous fish. The result is that some of the best salmon and steelhead runs on the Peninsula have been reduced to mere vestiges. The cost to the Tribe and the public has been enormous.

The dams do not generate enough power to justify their cost to the Tribe and the public at large. What power they do generate can be replaced from other sources. Those sources are relatively inexpensive to Crown and considerably less expensive for the Tribe, which has involuntarily subsidized Crown by carrying the costs of its dams for too long.