Explosion Cuts Off Electricity Control Room At Dam Damaged When Someone Set Off Bomb

Pacific Power has tightened security at its power projects throughout the Northwest after someone set off explosives in an unoccupied control room at a southern Oregon dam.

The utility has no indication that any of its other 53 dams are being targeted but wants to ensure safety throughout its system following the blast, Pacific Power spokesman Gary Donnelly said Monday.

No group has accepted responsibility for the vandalism and there was no indication this was an act of environmental terrorism, Donnelly said.

“I don’t think we have any reason to believe it was some wacky environmental group,” he said. “We really don’t know who did it.”

Donnelly said the explosion at the John C. Boyle dam early Sunday did hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and was the most serious vandalism ever at one of the utility’s hydroelectric projects.

He didn’t have an exact dollar figure for the damage.

Donnelly said the dam on the Klamath River canyon near Keno, about 20 miles southwest of Klamath Falls, stopped generating power following the explosion, but should resume operation within two days. The dam itself was never in danger of failing.

Manual back-up power controls will be used in place of damaged computer components.

Whoever set the explosion cut a fence to gain entry to the property surrounding the control room, which is three miles from the actual dam.

“We definitely have evidence of illegal entry,” said Klamath County Sheriff Carl Burkhart. “Nothing was stolen. The motive was to destroy the property.”

An employee living near the remote power house discovered the fire early Sunday when an alarm went off.

Volunteer firefighters quickly put out the fire.

Burkhart refused to say what type of explosives were used. The employee who discovered the fire did not report seeing anyone. A single dirt road provides the only access to the power house off Oregon 66.

Pacific Power offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever set the fire.

The control station is remotely operated with no full-time staff, but workers make daily checks. The dam generates around 80 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply nearly 45,000 homes and businesses.

Burkhart said he called U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms investigators because of the nature and location of the fire.

Pacific Power serves portions of Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.

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