The deal also calls on Congress to approve a $1-billion restoration package for the river basin that won broad support in the region earlier this year. Some environmental groups say that accord bends too far to deliver abundant water and cheap power to farmers.
PacifiCorp, which is owned by billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., has been under mounting pressure to demolish the dams. West Coast lawmakers, among them Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, called for dam removal after the Klamath's salmon runs slumped deeply in 2006.
Last year, federal biologists required PacifiCorp to install fish ladders -- a tricky engineering feat expected to cost at least $300 million -- before the company could get a new license to continue operating the dams.
California has been conducting an ongoing review of water quality problems caused by the dams, which are blamed for a toxic stew of blue-green algae bedeviling the river.
Foes of the agreement said it makes no sense to strike a deal weeks before Barack Obama becomes president.
"It's just nutty to commit to this with Bush heading out the door," said Tom Schlosser, an attorney for the Hoopa tribe of Northern California.
He and other foes say PacifiCorp might exploit the agreement as a delaying tactic, arguing that the deal has loopholes that allow the company to back out as late as 2012.
In the meantime, they said, the agreement will essentially shut down California's water quality hearings on the Klamath dams.
Steve Pedery of Oregon Wild said the deal also links dam removal to the $1-billion restoration package he believes favors farmers over fish.
"This has been a well-orchestrated campaign by the Bush administration taking advantage of a desire for dam removal to sell another package that's actually bad for salmon and wildlife," he said.
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eric.bailey@latimes.com
