Friday January 26, 2024
Capital Press —
Copco 1, the oldest of the three remaining dams on the Klamath River, was breached Tuesday.
Crews blasted away a plug in Copco’s adit, a 10-foot-diameter tunnel that was drilled at the base of the dam last summer.
Ren Brownell, spokeswoman for Klamath River Renewal Corporation, which is coordinating the dams’ removal, said crews went about 100 feet into the dam and left a 12-foot concrete plug at its upstream end. A steel pipe was installed on its exterior and covered with concrete and a large rock.
Earlier this month, openings were created at the two other hydroelectric dams — Iron Gate and John C. Boyle — as part of drawing down water from the reservoirs behind the dams. A fourth dam, Copco 2, was removed last year.