LETTER FROM SAN FRANCISCO

In a Republican stronghold like this one, it's only bound to stoke Trumpist passions. In Yreka, the county seat of Siskiyou County, in Northern California, the population has been up in arms about the removal of hydroelectric dams on the Klamath, the river that flows through the region, from Oregon to the Pacific Ocean.

In 2010, 78% of voters stated their opposition to the destruction of these dams which were built between 1912 and 1962 and provide electricity to 70,000 homes. The public authorities overruled them, all the more so as the dams' operator, Pacificorp, removed itself from the project's license. Aging and lacking fish ladders, the dams have been blamed by environmentalists and the Indigenous tribes living along the river for depleting salmon stocks.

Ever since the first breach of the 52-meter-high Iron Gate Dam on January 9, releasing tons of sediment, revolt has been brewing in Siskiyou County. Shops have been selling T-shirts and posters featuring a fish reduced to bones, with the slogan "No more dam removals!"

On March 26, the county's board of supervisors − all Republicans − declared a state of emergency, after receiving the results of a river water analysis that showed concentrations of lead, arsenic, iron and aluminum in excess of standards for drinking water, crop irrigation and livestock consumption. No one ever drinks the river's water, which has remained polluted every summer by blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). Nonetheless, the tests fueled the rumors.

In front of Jim Leach's riverside home, a black flag flies aloft, that of Vietnam-era prisoners of war. In the late 1960s, the helicopter pilot was tasked with dumping defoliant over the jungles of Vietnam. Years later, when he developed cancer, he was one of the veterans who had to fight for over 10 years to get the Pentagon to acknowledge the role of "Agent Orange" in their illness.

Today, Leach has felt as if he's been reliving the same nightmare. At the foot of his terrace, 7 kilometers from the Iron Gate dam, the water has been running black. Convinced that the water contained toxic levels of minerals, he ordered tests, which he paid for out of his own pocket. They corroborated the tests carried out by the authorities. "It's like Vietnam. They are lying to us," he said.

Once a land of gold miners, the region has always been hostile to the federal government. In 2013, the Siskiyou County board of supervisors voted in favor of withdrawing from California to create the State of Jefferson, a revival of the 1941 idea of seceding from the Union. In 2020, residents gave a 56% majority to Donald Trump. Many have been lashing out at the government, accusing it of squandering water that should be going back to farmers, not to benefit "fish that won't return" in light of rising water temperatures.

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