How bad is a gas turbine? The biggest dam produced 113TWh [1]. Assuming half of that was peak load that needs to be replaced by a gas turbine running (and ignoring the other half), that will produce 35.000t CO2e per year [2].
If 1kg of salmon swims upstream how much CO2 does it sink/add to natural process? Wouldn't it not happen in another river? Or the ocean? Let's say it's 10kg (ie. 10:1). Will 3.500 t/year more of salmon swim upstream Klamath river?
There used to be a lot more salmon in rivers. There also used to be a lot more salmon in the sea. Are there a lot that don't have anywhere to go? Salmons are said to return to their birth place. I think it's fair to say no salmons alive were born in the upper Klamath river as it's been dammed for the past 70 years. Will they go there if they haven't been born there?
Climate change is also affecting salmons with NOAA at some point made a prediction there won't be more salmon runs by 2100, due to warmer streams and acidification [3].
Or did the company running the dams just saw them as uneconomical and it was happy that the state will pay part of the demolition costs to the tune of 250M$ (out of 450M total) [4]?
Salmon have a 4 year life-cycle, so definitely none have been born in the upper Klamath. Doesn't matter if they'll go there, they'll stock the upper Klamath with fry, and in 4 years you'll have returnees.
The company is Berkshire Hathaway by the way, and the main reason that they saw them as uneconomical is that the state has introduced legislation that they have to provide by-passes for the fish, and it would have cost more to retro-fit that to demo them.
None of these dams ever produced more than the tiniest fraction of even just the commercial value of the fisheries they destroyed. They totally didn't care.
If 1kg of salmon swims upstream how much CO2 does it sink/add to natural process? Wouldn't it not happen in another river? Or the ocean? Let's say it's 10kg (ie. 10:1). Will 3.500 t/year more of salmon swim upstream Klamath river?
There used to be a lot more salmon in rivers. There also used to be a lot more salmon in the sea. Are there a lot that don't have anywhere to go? Salmons are said to return to their birth place. I think it's fair to say no salmons alive were born in the upper Klamath river as it's been dammed for the past 70 years. Will they go there if they haven't been born there?
Climate change is also affecting salmons with NOAA at some point made a prediction there won't be more salmon runs by 2100, due to warmer streams and acidification [3].
Or did the company running the dams just saw them as uneconomical and it was happy that the state will pay part of the demolition costs to the tune of 250M$ (out of 450M total) [4]?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Gate_Dam_(California)
[2] https://www.rensmart.com/Calculators/KWH-to-CO2
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_run#Prospects
[4]https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/04/07/klamath-river-dam-rem...