[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
DAM-L Protest staged against court water ruling (fwd)
----- Forwarded message from Right to Water -----
Return-path: <right-to-water@iatp.org>
Received: from mail.iatp.org (iatp-2.InnovSoftD.com [208.141.36.66])
by lox.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca (8.8.7/8.8.8) with ESMTP id GAA18781
for <dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca>; Wed, 23 May 2001 06:35:26 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from [208.141.36.73] by mail.iatp.org
(Netscape Messaging Server 3.62) with SMTP id 264
for <dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca>;
Wed, 23 May 2001 04:31:22 -0500
From: Right to Water <right-to-water@iatp.org>
To: dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca
Subject: Protest staged against court water ruling
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 04:41:52 -0500
X-Mailer: Allaire Cold Fusion 3.1
Message-ID: <20010523093120728.AAK175.264@[208.141.36.73]>
Right to Water (right-to-water@iatp.org) Posted: 05/22/2001 By svarghese@iatp.org
============================================================
Protest staged against court water ruling, By ROD SMITH
May 21, 2001, Feedstuffs Staff Editor
Thousands of people in Northern California and Oregon recently staged "a
bucket brigade" to protest a decision by the U.S. Department of Interior
(DOI) barring farmers and ranchers from drawing water from the Klamath
River this summer whenever water flows drop beneath designated minimums.
The order could lead to economic disaster for farmers and ranchers who need
the water for crops and livestock, as well as for the farming and ranching
communities along the river in the region, according to National
Cattlemen's Beef Assn. (NCBA) president Lynn Cornwell. He said more than
1,400 farmers and ranchers depend on the river for water, and without
water, their crops likely will fail and herds' performance suffer. He said
this would mean reduced incomes, which would affect local economies.
The region already is abnormally dry.
The order was issued to maintain water flows sufficient to protect coho
salmon and sucker fish in the river. The fish are considered endangered
species by DOI's Fish & Wildlife Service, which is responsible for carrying
out the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Many of those in the brigade, which
passed buckets of water from the river to a receptacle, had signs reading:
"People are species, too."
Nevertheless, a federal court earlier this month told a coalition of
producers who had sought an injunction on the order that ESA makes the
threat to the fish of greater importance than the health of the producers
and local economies.
In a statement, California Farm Bureau Federation president Bill Pauli said
the order was based on "faulty science. Our real concern is that the issue
is not people and fish but only fish at this point."
Ranchers are expected to market calves and stocker cattle early and
continue to cull herds that can't be supported without Klamath water.
Cornwell, in a letter to President George Bush, outlined a number of steps
that the Administration needs to take to provide assistance to ranchers
adversely affected by the order. He also said ESA needs to be fixed to
avoid similar conflicts in the future. ESA "is unbalanced, (and) to be
effective, the act must be reformed so that it considers the balance of the
ecosystem and uses scientifically defensible methods for determining
environmental impact."
Copyright 2001, The Miller Publishing Company, a company of Rural Press Ltd.
============================================================
How to Use this Mailing List
============================================================
You received this e-mail as a result of your registration on the right-to-water mailing list.
To unsubscribe, please send an email to listserv@iatp.org. In the body of the message type:
unsubscribe right-to-water
For a list of other commands and list options, please send email to listserv@iatp.org.
In the body of the message type:
help
Please direct content questions about this list to: mritchie@iatp.org
Please direct technical questions about this service to: support@iatp.org
----- End of forwarded message from Right to Water -----