Portland General Electric (PGE) is a Fortune 1000 public utility based in Portland, Oregon. It distributes electricity to customers in parts of Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Washington, and Polk counties - 44% of the inhabitants of Oregon. Founded in 1888 as the Willamette Falls Electric Company, the company has been an independent company for most of its existence, though was briefly owned by the Houston-based Enron Corporation from 1997 until 2006 when Enron divested itself of PGE during its bankruptcy.
Bonneville Locks and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located 40 miles (64 km) east of Portland, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge. The primary functions of Bonneville Locks and Dam are electrical power generation and river navigation. The dam was built and is managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. At the time of its construction in the 1930s it was the largest water impoundment project of its type in the nation, able to withstand flooding on an unprecedented scale. Electrical power generated at Bonneville is distributed by the Bonneville Power Administration. Bonneville Locks and Dam is named for Army Capt. Benjamin Bonneville, an early explorer credited with charting much of the Oregon Trail. The Bonneville Dam Historic District was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1987.
The Klamath River flows 257 miles (414 km) through Oregon and northern California in the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second largest river in California after the Sacramento River. It drains an extensive watershed of almost 16,000 square miles (41,000 km2) that stretches from the arid country of south-central Oregon to the temperate rainforest of the Pacific coast. Unlike most rivers, the Klamath begins in the high desert and flows toward the mountains – carving its way through the rugged Cascade Range and Klamath Mountains before reaching the sea. The upper basin, today used for farming and ranching, once contained vast freshwater marshes that provided habitat for abundant wildlife, including millions of migratory birds. Most of the lower basin remains wild, with much of it designated wilderness. The watershed is known for this peculiar geography, and the Klamath has been called "a river upside down" by National Geographic magazine.
The Sandy River is a 56-mile (90 km) tributary of the Columbia River in northwestern Oregon in the United States. The Sandy joins the Columbia about 14 miles (23 km) upstream of Portland.
The Bull Run River is a 21.9-mile (35.2 km) tributary of the Sandy River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Beginning at the lower end of Bull Run Lake in the Cascade Range, it flows generally west through the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit (BRWMU), a restricted area meant to protect the river and its tributaries from contamination. The river, impounded by two artificial storage reservoirs as well as the lake, is the primary source of drinking water for the city of Portland, Oregon.
Condit Hydroelectric Project was a development on the White Salmon River in the U.S. state of Washington. It was completed in 1913 to provide electrical power for local industry, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as an engineering and architecture landmark.
Timothy Lake is a lake about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is in proximity to Clear Lake and an impoundment of the Oak Grove Fork Clackamas River.
Bull Run is an unincorporated community in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. It is located about 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of Sandy, near the Bull Run River and the powerhouse of the defunct Mount Hood Railway and Power Company.
The Mount Hood Railway and Power Company, also known as the Mount Hood Company, initiated hydroelectric development in the Sandy River basin in the U.S. state of Oregon in 1906. Its Bull Run Hydroelectric Project included a powerhouse on the Bull Run River, a tributary of the Sandy River, and a diversion dam on the Little Sandy River, a tributary of the Bull Run River. Water from the dam, which was about 16 feet (4.9 m) high, flowed through a wooden flume about 17,000 feet (5,200 m) long to Roslyn Lake and from there to the powerhouse. The company began using the powerhouse to generate electricity in 1912.
The Oak Grove Hydroelectric Project is a 44 megawatt hydroelectric plant operated by Portland General Electric (PGE) on the Oak Grove Fork Clackamas River. Water for this project is held by three lakes, built between 1923 and 1956. The dam creates the impoundment Lake Harriet.
Oak Grove Fork Clackamas River is a 21-mile (34 km) tributary of the Clackamas River in the U.S. state of Oregon. From its headwaters in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation near Abbot Pass in the Cascade Range, the river flows generally west through Mount Hood National Forest in Clackamas County to the unincorporated community of Ripplebrook. Here it enters the main stem of the Clackamas River. Oak Grove Fork feeds Timothy Lake and Lake Harriet, two artificial impoundments built along its course to control water flows to hydroelectric plants.
Dam removal is the process of demolishing a dam, returning water flow to the river. Arguments for dam removal consider whether their negative effects outweigh their benefits. The benefits of dams include hydropower production, flood control, irrigation, and navigation. Negative effects of dams include environmental degradation, such as reduced primary productivity, loss of biodiversity, and declines in native species; some negative effects worsen as dams age, like structural weakness, reduced safety, sediment accumulation, and high maintenance expense. The rate of dam removals in the United States has increased over time, in part driven by dam age. As of 1996, 5,000 large dams around the world were more than 50 years old. In 2020, 85% percent of dams in the United States are more than 50 years old. In the United States roughly 900 dams were removed between 1990 and 2015, and by 2015, the rate was 50 to 60 per year. France and Canada have also completed significant removal projects. Japan's first removal, of the Arase Dam on the Kuma River, began in 2012 and was completed in 2017. A number of major dam removal projects have been motivated by environmental goals, particularly restoration of river habitat, native fish, and unique geomorphological features. For example, fish restoration motivated the Elwha Ecosystem Restoration and the dam removal on the river Allier, while recovery of both native fish and of travertine deposition motivated the restoration of Fossil Creek.
River Mill Hydroelectric Project, also known as River Mill Dam and Station M, is a hydroelectric dam and powerhouse in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. It is just north of Estacada, Oregon, on the Clackamas River at river mile 23.5. It received its name from being near a sawmill that was located along the river.
The John C. Boyle Dam is a hydroelectric dam located in southern Oregon, United States. It is on the upper Klamath River, south (downstream) of Keno, and about 12 miles (19 km) north of the California border. Originally developed and known as Big Bend, the John C. Boyle dam and powerhouse complex was re-dedicated to honor the pioneer hydroelectric engineer who was responsible for the design of virtually all of the Klamath Hydroelectric Project.
The Little Sandy River is a tributary, roughly 15 miles (24 km) long, of the Bull Run River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Forming west of Mount Hood in the Mount Hood National Forest, it flows generally west, roughly parallel to the Sandy River to the south. Its entire course lies in Clackamas County, and most of its main stem and tributaries are within the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit (BRWMU), a restricted zone that protects Portland's main water supply.
Iron Gate Dam is an earthfill hydroelectric dam on the Klamath River in northern California, outside Hornbrook, California, that opened in 1964. The dam blocks the Klamath River to create the Iron Gate Lake Reservoir. It is the lowermost of a series of power dams on the river, the Klamath River Hydroelectric Project, operated by PacifiCorp. It also poses the first barrier to migrating salmon in the Klamath. The Iron Gate Fish Hatchery was placed just after the dam, hatching salmon and steelhead that are released back into the river. The Iron Gate Dam, along with the John C. Boyle Dam, are two of four on the Klamath River that would be removed under the Klamath Economic Restoration Act. As of February 2016, the states of Oregon and California, the dam owners, federal regulators, and other parties reached an agreement to remove all four dams by the year 2020, pending approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. On February 25, 2022, the FERC released its final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the dam's removal. The Iron Gate Dam is expected to be removed sometime in 2023 or 2024. A movement to Un-Dam the Klamath has been ongoing for 20 years to remove the dams.
Copco Lake is an artificial lake on the Klamath River in Siskiyou County, California, near the Oregon border in the United States. The lake's waters are impounded by the Copco Number 1 Dam, which was completed in 1922. COPCO was an acronym referring to the California Oregon Power Company, which merged into Pacific Power and Light in 1961, and is now known as Pacificorp.
John C. Boyle Reservoir is an artificial impoundment behind John C. Boyle Dam on the Klamath River in the U.S. state of Oregon. The lake is 16 miles (26 km) west-southwest of Klamath Falls along Oregon Route 66.
The Koma Kulshan Project is a 13.3 MW run-of-the-river hydroelectric generation facility on the slopes of Mount Baker, a stratovolcano in Washington state's North Cascades. The project commenced commercial operation in October 1990, and is owned by a Covanta Energy–Atlantic Power joint venture. It supplies Puget Sound Energy via a Power Supply Agreement (PSA) contract. Its single turbine is a Pelton wheel supplied by Sulzer Escher Wyss.
Un-Dam the Klamath (#UnDamtheKlamath) is a social movement in the United States to remove the dams on the Klamath River primarily because they obstruct salmon, steelhead, and other species from accessing the upper basin which provides hundreds of miles of spawning habitat. The dams have also significantly harmed Hupa, Karuk, Klamath, and Yurok lifeways and communities. Copco #1, Copco #2, Iron Gate and J.C. Boyle are the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River that are being advocated for removal.
