Commentary by Samuel Strait Who would ever believe someone aspiring to represent their local normally forgotten citizenry, could ever be associated with doing their job properly? Better yet, making the correct decision. Curry County Commissioners have joined with those in Jackson, Siskiyou, and Klamath Counties to draft a letter asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to suspend the transfer, decommissioning and removal of the four Klamath River dams. In February the FERC published their Environmental Impact Statement for public comment which would allow for the physical removal of the Copco No. 1, the Copco No. 2, the Iron Gate, and John C. Boyle dams. Time by the FERC has been allowed to question the decisions reached in determining that all factors had been considered before the removal scheduled to take place in 2024 had been met. The four counties contend that this was not the case. The three on the Curry Commission explained in their letter to the FERC that drought conditions and fire danger make the retention of water storage in the Northern part of the State critical going forward. That, and the potential for irrigation water and drinking water make it imperative for the FERC to consider that there was the lack of a complete and proper evaluation of the project. Salmon spend relatively a small amount of their adult lives in the confines of the River. No proper consideration has been made of the conditions Salmon must address for a majority of their life cycle, and that is of the time spent in the Ocean. The Commission is asked to evaluate these factors before making the final decision on the Dams. The entire process thus far has been fraught with poor science and emotion rather than a properly conducted Environmental evaluation of the project. Early on an investigator from the Department of the Interior sent to evaluate the reporting on conditions for dam removal found it to be biased, predetermined and improper. Nothing has changed since. Never at any time has the evaluation considered the possibility that anything other than the four lower dams could be responsible for the declining fish populations which began in the 1970's fully fifty years after the dams had been constructed. Ocean studies since have concluded that fish populations along the Pacific Coast and the Ocean in general have declined to but 1 to 3% of their pre 1970's levels. That coupled with the fact that 21% of the current returning salmon are from two fish hatcheries set to be eliminated with the removal of the dams. While much of the focus contending dam removal creates conditions that seriously effect the economy, safety, and health of those in the four counties, it is clear that the lack of attention to ocean fish populations is a serious defect when contending that a restoration will occur once the dams are removed. In addition to the fact that California does have water storage issues and the money being spent for the removal project was meant to increase water storage capacity not diminish it. While consideration for the Yurok and Karuk tribes, river fishermen, and fish resource management be considered in the process, it makes no sense if the dam removal does not meet their requirements while having what will clearly be a negative impact on the remainder of the region's population. It has been a couple of decades now where dam removal along the Pacific Coast has been the tool of choice for fish population restoration, yet the successes have been nearly non existent. A few instances where population have leveled, but most others have seen continued decline. As Siskiyou, Klamath, Jackson, and now Curry Counties have urged the FERC to take a breath and re examine the removal process, Ocean population evaluation should take a front row seat in that process.