Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
Our Klamath Basin
Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
|
Herald and News: Klamath Falls, Oregon http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2003/09/29/news/community_news/cit1.txt Renewed action called for on Klamath River Published September 28, 2003 By LEE JUILLERAT On the anniversary of a fish kill on the Lower Klamath River, two Congressmen Tuesday renewed calls to "find a balanced solution" to the ongoing Klamath River water crisis. Representatives Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., in a news release, claimed the September 2002 deaths of 30,000 adult salmon in the Lower Klamath River were due to high water temperatures and low water flows. Both said the deaths were a "direct result of a failed Klamath water policy by the Bush Administration." Thompson said requests to meet with Department of Interior officials and "push for the release of scientific reports detailing how sound science was ignored when determining water flows on the Klamath River have been dismissed. One year later," he said, "these repeated requests have continued to be ignored by Administration officials." Thompson said the Bush Administration has sequestered the controversial Hardy Phase II report. Although he called it the "most comprehensive study of water flows needed for the survival of salmon," some scientists believe it is seriously flawed and would virtually ensure the end of irrigation water in the Upper Klamath River Basin. Thompson also said a study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service detailing the cause and effects of the fish kill has not yet been released. "The lives of those who depend on this region's natural resources need and deserve balanced solutions based on sound science, not political gamesmanship," Thompson said. "This anniversary should be about celebrating a solution to a problem that is solvable, not continued inaction." In the release, Blumenauer echoed Thompson's thoughts. "We are coming out of another contentious summer without making any progress on a long-term solution. Lack of water in the Klamath Basin is not a plot, it is a reality," Blumenauer said. "Every year that there is a drought, every time we witness a massive fish kill, every judicial ruling that finds the federal government is not meeting its responsibilities is a signal we ought be taking simple, common sense approaches." A July 30, 2003 article by the Wall Street Journal detailed the Bush Administration's involvement in what Thompson and Blumenauer call "pressuring Department of Interior scientists to suppress or manipulate sound science to support their own 10-year water plan." They said the Interior Department's Inspector General has launched an investigation. "Salmon populations in the Lower Klamath River have been decimated by mismanagement of water resources," Blumenauer and Thompson said in the release. "Today, less than 10 percent of the historical salmon populations remain in the Klamath River. Salmon losses have had devastating impacts on the fishing dependent economies of the lower river, putting thousands of people out of work and eliminating tens of millions of dollars annually from the community." They said the mismanagement has caused the loss of more than 4,000 family wage jobs and resulted in a total salmon industry loss of about $80 million a year. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml |
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