by Leslie Layton
posted Aug. 12
This story was updated at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 12 with an additional response from Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. (PG&E).
The breach in PG&E-operated Butte Canal that has turned Butte Creek into orange sludge will turn out to be the death knell for many salmon and some members of other species, says fisheries expert Allen Harthorn.
Harthorn, founder of the advocacy organization Friends of Butte Creek, warns the environmental disaster triggered by the Aug. 10 breach is a threat to what was the state’s best chance to save spring-run Chinook salmon. Butte Creek, a 93-mile tributary of the Sacramento River, is considered critical to the spring run’s survival.
“This was the best run of spring-run salmon in the entire state,” Harthorn said today, “although it was in need of a lot of restoration. This event is essentially an underwater Camp Fire — there’s no fire, but it’s killing everything in its path.”