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DAM-L Klamath Basin Drought Threatens Fish, Farmers (fwd)



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From: Right to Water <right-to-water@iatp.org>
To: dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca
Subject: Klamath Basin Drought Threatens Fish, Farmers
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 23:45:05 -0500
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Right to Water (right-to-water@iatp.org)    Posted: 06/26/2001  By  svarghese@iatp.org	
============================================================



Klamath Basin Drought Threatens Fish, Farmers

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, June 25, 2001 (ENS) - U.S. Senate efforts to pass a
supplemental appropriations bill before the July 4th break could be stymied
by the battle over scarce water in the Pacific Northwest. Farmers in the
Klamath Basin are facing a year with no water for irrigation, as all
available water has been diverted to protect endangered suckerfish, and the
region's lawmakers are threatening to block emergency spending unless the
water is restored. 

Senator Gordon Smith, an Oregon Republican, vowed last week that he would
prevent Senate passage of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill
unless the president's request for $20 million in relief for Klamath Basin
farmers is included in the legislation. 
Robert Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate
Appropriations Committee, removed the Klamath provision from the emergency
legislation before the committee considered the bill last week. Smith wrote
a strongly worded letter to Byrd, urging him to reconsider his deletion of
the Klamath Basin funds. 

"Mr. Chairman, I have the utmost respect for your leadership in the Senate
over the years, but I need to inform you that - if need be - I will use
every available tool and parliamentary procedure at my disposal to get this
money restored for my constituents," Smith wrote. "These good people are
suffering from a severe drought - the worst in 73 years - that has been
compounded by federal actions to allocate more water than in years past
from the federal Klamath Project for species listed under the Endangered
Species Act." 

Farmers in the Klamath Basin have been deprived of all of the Klamath River
water that they traditionally receive from the federal Bureau of
Reclamation, due to a decision by the Interior Department that the water
must be reserved for threatened and endangered fish. Under the Endangered
Species Act, these fish must receive a guaranteed flow of water in the
region's lakes and streams, regardless of the effects on other water users. 

That decision has sparked a storm of controversy, with many legislators
siding with area agricultural interests, and environmentalists finding
allies among the region's commercial and recreational fishers. 

On June 16, the House Resources Committee held a field hearing in Klamath
Falls, Oregon to hear testimony from both sides on the Endangered Species
Act (ESA) provision that reserves water for the fish. The Pacific Legal
Foundation, which specializes in ESA litigation, argued that the federal
government should rethink the manner in which it balances the needs of rare
species, such as the endangered suckerfish and threatened coho salmon,
against human needs. 

"The federal government should start putting people first and immediately
supply Klamath basin farmers with the water they need to survive," said Bob
Vice, a Pacific Legal Foundation senior advisor and former president of the
California Farm Bureau Federation. "The federal government has a
contractual obligation to provide water to the farmers of the Klamath
region and government's excuses for reneging on that commitment don't wash." 

The House panel also heard from individual farmers, a school principal, and
representatives from fishing and hunting groups. Many of the witnesses
testified that the economy of the Klamath Basin could face a serious blow
due to the government's cutoff of irrigation water during a major drought. 

"Government must respond to the needs of the people. We believe the Bureau
of Reclamation hasn't adequately explored alternatives to turning off the
spigot," continued Vice. "There are credible studies that suggest sucker
fish don't need more water, but the bureaucrats haven't taken these studies
seriously. The problem has been made worse by other federal agencies
robbing both farmers and fish of water by diverting upstream supplies." 

After a federal judge refused to overturn the April decision by the Bureau
of Reclamation to halt water diversions for agriculture, a group of western
Republican Representatives, including Greg Walden of Oregon and Wally
Herger of California, called on Interior Secretary Gale Norton to convene a
special panel of cabinet level officials called the Endangered Species
Committee. 
This committee, sometimes called the God Squad, has the power to overturn
ESA decisions in favor of economic interests. 

"This is ground zero in the debate over the Endangered Species Act," said
Representative Walden at the June 16 field hearing. "The law allows a
second look at these issues by a 'God Squad' of top federal officials - but
so far, they haven't acted." 

Regional officials say that Klamath Basin farmers could face up to $250
million in losses due to the lack of irrigation water - far more than the
$20 million that President George W. Bush had requested in emergency aid,
in a provision that has now been struck from the Senate version of the
emergency appropriations bill. 

But fishers in the Pacific Northwest note that their own economic interests
would be badly damaged if the water was taken away from the fish and given
back to the farmers. And environmentalists point out that the 200,000 plus
acres now parching in the sun are naturally desert lands, made fertile only
by the artificial introduction of irrigation water. 

Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen's Associations, called on Congress last week to hold a second
field hearing, focusing this time on the threatened fish and the people who
depend on them. Salmon fishers in Eureka, California, for example, have
seen a 99 percent decline in the fishing economy, largely as a result of
fewer fish being produced by the Klamath River. 

"Economic losses to coastal fishing communities are staggering," Grader
noted. "The salmon based economy of Northern California and Southern Oregon
has gone from $100 million a year to about $1 million a year today. The
economic decline is caused primarily by the loss of fish in the Klamath
River." 

"The Klamath was once the third largest salmon producing river on the west
coast prior to its water's being diverted to irrigate desert land," Grader
continued. "Diverting Klamath River waters has cost an estimated 3700 jobs
related to the salmon industry in coastal communities from Pt. Arena,
California to Coos Bay, Oregon, a 350 mile stretch of coast. We're hurting
and the politicians are grandstanding." 

Fishing groups such as the Pacific Coast Federation and many environmental
groups support proposals to buy out farmers in the Klamath Basin to return
their lands to a more natural state, ending the need for massive water
diversions from the Klamath River. 
"The extinction of fish means the extermination of fishermen," said Grader.
"We're looking for balance and compromise so everybody can live. We're
tired of extremist politicians playing the blame game." 

© Environment News Service (ENS) 2001. All Rights Reserved.  




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