LOS ANGELES, May 2 (Reuters) - Environmentalists, commercial ?Įfishermen and Native American tribes sued Berkshire Hathaway Inc. ?ĮBRKA subsidiary PacifiCorp in San Francisco on Wednesday, ?Įclaiming that two of its dams on the Klamath River are killing ?Įsalmon and causing human health hazards.

The lawsuit, led by environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ?Įand the Yurok and Karuk tribes, asks a federal court to force ?ĮPacifiCorp to clean up toxic algae blooms in the reservoirs behind ?Įthe Iron Gate and Copco dams in Northern California. Other plaintiffs include river recreation business owners and the Klamath Riverkeeper group.

The annual algae blooms occur because PacifiCorp improperly ?Įcontrols the intake and release of water, allowing it to stagnate ?Įas temperatures in the reservoirs rise "well above natural ?Įlevels," the lawsuit said.

The algae generates a deadly liver toxin that threatens the ?Įfishery and the health of tribal medicine men who bathe in the ?Įriver during rituals, said co-counsel Joseph Cotchett of Cotchett ?ĮPitre & McCarthy.

The dams "are having a devastating impact on the economies ?Įand cultures of Native Americans and others who depend on the ?ĮKlamath River," Kennedy, an attorney for the Natural Resources ?ĮDefense Council and president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, said in ?Įa statement.

PacifiCorp, owned by a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, is ?Įpursuing renewals of its licenses to operate the dams with the ?ĮFederal Energy Regulatory Commission.

PacifiCorp has been working with 26 interested parties to find ?Įa solution to issues related to the relicensing for at least a ?Įcouple of years, a company spokeswoman said, but added that the ?Įcompany had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.

The U.S. Department of the Interior last year recommended ?Įremoving the dams or building "ladders" for the spawning fish if ?ĮPacifiCorp wants to keep them.

The Klamath River salmon population, once one of the West ?ĮCoast's most robust, has declined over the past two decades as the ?Įdams and declining water levels from farm irrigation blocked their ?Įspawning routes. Growers have objected to attempts by ?Įenvironmentalists to limit the amount of water they can divert ?Įfrom the river for their crops during dry years.