Time to Take Action

Archive 239 - May 2022
also  see main archive page

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!  Oregon Governor Kate Brown's letter to Interior Secretary Haaland urging her to use drought money to permanently retire Klamath Project farmland (because the government is stealing our stored water to use for other purposes.) 4/28/22
Klamath Water Users Association response to Gov. Brown 5/4/22: "...KWUA is dismayed, however, by your letter's unexpected recommendation that funding under the Act be used to permanently retire irrigation water rights in the Klamath Project and effect a shift to dry land farming...."
!!! KID response to Governor Brown's letter to Interior Secretary Haaland, 5/4/22. "...K.I.D. is concerned with your suggestion for long-term solutions without first engaging and discussing with local representatives and governments responsible for implementing such actions. Where we specifically find issue is in the suggestion that permanently idling some of the world’s most productive farmland will be beneficial; we believe this approach is overly simplistic and short sighted as the world population continues to grow and the need for food security/stability is increasing...Unfortunately, poor policy which promotes removing water from the former wetlands has (and continues to) change weather patterns in the Klamath watershed. Before agricultural modification to the landscape, over 188,000 acres of surface area was covered by water. This area was once described as the Everglades of the West...This situation has nothing to do with drying up the Klamath River or interfering or infringing upon water rights of downstream tribes – this is simply about the release of stored water that would not otherwise be physically available but for construction of a dam across the outlet of Upper Klamath Lake"

 

Grow housesSheriff wants statewide state of emergency over illegal marijuana grows, H&N 5/23/22. "The county estimates there could be as many as 2,000 grow sites and 5,000 greenhouses just in California’s northernmost county. Those grows can use as much as 3 million gallons of water per day in region dealing with severe drought conditions..."

 

 

 

 

BPA Transmission linePacific Power customers could see higher electricity bills, H&N 5/19/22. "Pacific Power is asking Oregon regulators to approve an electricity rate hike that could increase residential customers’ utility bills by as much as 14%. KBC NOTE: So the states of Oregon and California are paying millions of dollars to destroy our clean green hydroelectric dams that supply power to 70,000 households, as well as flood control, water for fighting wildfires which has saved towns, lakes, communities, and ecosystems providing habitat for hundreds of species, some endangered. Pacific Power said if they destroyed the dams, our power rates would decrease. Some people believed them.

Klamath Tribes sue federal government over water releases to farmers, Capital Press 5/13/22. "...KWUA says the anticipated 50,000 acre-foot Project allotment represents no more than 5% of all the water that will be used this season from Upper Klamath Lake. About 40% will be sent down the Klamath River for ESA-listed salmon, 28% will be held in the lake for C’waam and Koptu and 27% will be lost to evaporation..." KBC NOTE: Klamath Project irrigators store their irrigation water in Upper Klamath Lake, causing the lake to be higher than historically possible before the Klamath Project was built. The highest sucker counts were when the lake was lower, before the ESA mandated confiscating our legally stored water.

 

Klamath Irrigation District's Final Water Management and Conservation Plan 8/16/21, posted to KBC 5/7/22. "(The KID WM and CP) captures a brief summary of our history and discusses what we know about the present. Recent conversations have indicated many are not aware of Klamath Irrigation District's efforts to move towards a more modern and efficient irrigation system. The first step to the future is understanding our past and our infrastructure design, then understanding our present conditions....from there we can create a vision for the future."
"Proposed date of submittal of an updated Water Management Conservation plan to OWRD required in OAR 690-086-0225.6: The submittal of an updated plan in the foreseeable future is unnecessary and should not be required before 1 January 2035 or upon a Reclamation directive consistent with our contract."

* 2022 KPDRA No Irrigation Program Announcement 5/6/22.Applications are currently being accepted and the application deadline is June 15, 2022.
 

 

 

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