ESA Field Hearing to Include Testimony From Key Witnesses

U.S. House Resources field hearing to evaluate 30-year-old Endangered Species Act and its implications on the Klamath Project

WASHINGTON, DC – The House Subcommittee on Water and Power today released the witness list for Saturday’s field hearing titled “The Endangered Species Act 30 Years Later: The Klamath Project.”  The hearing is being held at the request of Congressman Greg Walden (R-OR). 

Three colleagues, a high number of Representatives for field hearing attendance, are scheduled to join Walden.  Those confirmed include Congressman Ken Calvert, Chairman, Subcommittee on Water and Power (R-CA44), Congressman Wally Herger (R-CA2) and Congressman John T. Doolittle (R-CA4).  In addition, Congressman George Radanovich (R-CA19) is hopeful of attending.

“This weekend’s hearing affords us the opportunity to revisit the 30-year-old Endangered Species Act in depth, an act that can dramatically impact the lives of species and property owners,” said Walden.  “The ESA is desperately in need of a peer review process for the science utilized in critical federal decisions, much like the provisions in the Sound Sciences for Endangered Species Act Planning Act which I have introduced in the Congress. 

“We require this for opinions published in medical journals, and common sense dictates we should do the same for the sweeping policy decisions brought about by the ESA.  The drastic Klamath Basin water shut-off of 2001 is proof of what can happen when inconclusive science is the basis for federal decisions.  We can't let this happen again.”

The list of witnesses scheduled to testify at the hearing are listed below in alphabetical order.

The Honorable Ralph Brown, Vice-Chair, Curry County Board of

Commissioners; Gold Beach, Oregon 

Mr. Dave Carmen; Chico, California

Mr. Troy Fletcher, Klamath River Inter-Tribal Fish & Water Commission

Representative  (Accompanied by Mr. Allen Foreman, Chairman, 

The Klamath Tribes)

Mr. Bill Gaines, Director of Government Affairs, California Waterfowl

Association; Sacramento, California

The Honorable Doug LaMalfa, Assemblyman, 2^nd District, California

Dr. William M. Lewis, Jr., Chair, Committee on Endangered and Threatened

Fishes in the Klamath River Basin (affiliated with the NRC); University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

Mr. Kirk Rodgers, Regional Director, Mid-Pacific Region, Bureau of

Reclamation  (Accompanied by Mr. Steve Thompson, Regional

Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Mr. Jim Lecky,

Assistant Regional Administrator for Protected Resources, National

 Marine Fisheries Service)

The Honorable Jimmy Smith, Supervisor, Humboldt County Board of

         Supervisor; Eureka, California

Mr. David Vogel, Natural Resource Scientists, Inc.; Red Bluff, California         

The hearing will be held Saturday, July 17, at the Ross Ragland Theater in Klamath Falls starting at 9:00 a.m. and is open to the public.

Congressman Walden represents the Second Congressional District of Oregon, which includes 20 counties in southern, central and eastern Oregon. He is a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce as well as the Committee on Resources.