fake news applies to local water data klamath herald and news paul clark 122216

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'Fake news' applies to local water data

Letter to the editor by Paul Clark, Klamath County, for Herald and News 12/22/16

After reading one of the headlines last week in my wife’s newspaper, I had to reply. I doubt you will print it, but I still have to express my opinion since the newspaper has gone so left coast in a very red county.

Phony reporting and fake news: it’s everywhere today and we are so lucky here in the Klamath Basin because you don’t have to look any farther than the Herald and News to see it firsthand.

Headline: Dec. 15, “Crater Lake snowpack 'slightly' higher than average.” The wording is typical of the Bureau of Reclamation and the environmentalists to play down the generous amount of precipitation the basin has received since Oct. 1.

The use of the adverb, “slightly” is the best, worst case scenario they can prevaricate, and the Herald and News is right there with the headline. The average snowfall for Crater Lake this time of year is 48 inches. Last week Crater Lake had 67 inches; that is 140 percent of normal, but according the Herald and News it is only slightly above average.

BOR news release last year, April, 2016, “As of April 1, the snow pack was 113 percent of average and the total precipitation was 119 percent of average.” By early summer The Herald and News quoted the BOR saying the above-average temperatures were melting the snowpack too fast and there would be a shortage — more fake news.

This is the precursor to getting the public ready for a dismal water forecast so they can again attempt to cause harm to agriculture in the Klamath Basin regardless of the available water. Our average annual precipitation is 14 inches. So far in this water year beginning Oct. 1 we have received seven inches of precipitation, one half of our annual rainfall; where is the optimism?

There is never an effort to verify any bad water-related news, just quote the environmentalists or the tribes with statements that cannot be proven statistically, much like global warming which is the epitome of fake news!

Paul Clark

Klamath County

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