The Klamath Basin has been held hostage by the Endangered Species Act for more than 20 years. The timber industry will never recover, and farmers and ranchers are in dire straights.

As you may remember, last February, National Marine Fisheries Services demanded huge additional flows down river to flush parasites off the coho salmon and back out into the sea.

As hard-strapped taxpayers, we will never know the weird science behind that rationale, but it ranks right in there with increasing flows down the Rio Grande river to wash disease and pestilence off the millions of illegals who come across that well-known creek.

When the U.S. government is not manipulating the ESA to exert more control, they have proposed listings like the chinook salmon to pick up the slack. We can only hope that Congress, with control of the purse strings, will drastically reduce funding for the ESA.

With our great country and the rest of the world in deep financial trouble, you would think that ESA listings, most of which are a drag on the economy, would be high on the list for cost cutting. Our local 11.8 percent unemployment rate is in large part due to the ESA.

The sucker fish is currently under five-year review, but like the spotted owl, I see little hope for delisting. All local irrigation entities and public officials are of like mind to modify the ESA, so lets keep the pressure on.