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.
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Energy
& Renewable
Energy Dark clouds on horizon for electric vehicle batteries, 4/28The United States has handed over the supply chain for this future to offshore suppliers of the critical materials used in the workhorse of the megatrend, the lithium-ion battery. These include lithium from South America and Australia; cobalt, primarily from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; nickel, copper, phosphate and manganese from countries where relations could sour overnight. Nickel from Russia, for example, is off the market because of the country’s invasion of Ukraine...Australian mines produce just under half of the global lithium supply, but most of that is exported directly to China for processing..." Klamath Falls - Biomass plant project withdrawn, H&N 6/14/13
Initiative would recognize hydropower as renewable As part of an “all of the above” energy strategy, Greg Walden supports bipartisan hydropower bill - 2/13/13 Adversity spurs ingenuity in local ag community, different power sources become more important, H&N 12/9/12. Pacific Northwest’s Klamath Basin a Possible Site for Geothermal Energy Plant, Green Optimistic, posted to KBC 11/29/12. "There are currently three high-volume, low-heat geothermal energy plans in the world. These are located in Japan, Germany, and Iceland. By the end of 2013, if all goes according to plan, there may be a fourth plant, located in the Klamath Basin...Moving an acre foot of water used to cost 33 cents and now the same acre foot of water costs $9.23 to move." Biomass plant will ruin air, H&N posted to KBC 10/13/12 by Joyce Barrett USDA announces $170M-program to "help" some livestock sellers The Westerner, posted to KBC 8/16/12. " * The government pays 417,000 farmers to not farm on 30 million acres, lessening the supply of all grains. * Government incentives result in 40% of the corn crop going into ethanol, further lessening the supply of feed grain. * These two government supply-restricting programs result in huge increases in the price of feed grains, putting livestock producers in a bind."
Public air quality meeting
set for Aug 21, DEQ will host two meetings this month, H&N, 8/4/12. "If
the area doesn’t reach attainment by 2014, industries will face heavier
restrictions and the use of wood-burning stoves in the winter will be
banned..."
Klamath Falls - Final decision on biomass plant a year away, H&N, posted to KBC 4/15/12. "The site is just outside the boundaries of the air quality nonattainment area, which is an area that has not met federal air quality standards." HERE for biofuel page Biomass meeting 4/6/12 Attend meeting for biomass plant, H&N letter to the editor, by Paul Fouch, posted to KBC 4/2/12 What’s smart about biomass? H&N Letter to editor by Lynn Sargent, posted 4/2/12 Klamath Falls - Final decision on biomass plant a year away, H&N, posted to KBC 4/15/12. Renewable energy, by Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett, posed to KBC 3/12/12 Comments Due on Klamath Biomass 2/10/12 Ask the state to move proposed biomass plant, letter to the editor by Paul Fouch, H&N, posted to KBC 1/26/12. Comments Due 2/10 Hydroelectric project on schedule for April finish; KID’s C Canal project will sell power to grid, posted to KBC 1/23/12 Stanford-educated farmer backing development of hydroelectric project, H&N 1/20/12. "Lauren Jespersen has gone from the fields of Klamath County to the hallways of Stanford and back again...." Biomass plan gets state support; Final public hearing on proposed 42-megawatt facility scheduled for Jan. 31, H&N, posted to KBC 1/11/12. "Why (Northwest Energy Systems) chose the lowest elevation to build a big smokestack is beyond me,...Why can’t the project be off to the east where it’s not so heavily populated?” 9/13/11 - BRYANT MOUNTAIN PUMPED STORAGE HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT, FERC PROJECT NO. 13680. Notification of Intent, Pre-application document. Listed are dozens of endangered species in the area, people who would lose their homes, farms, ranches and businesses (pg. 83), and many groups interested including Klamath Riverkeeper, The Nature Conservancy, Oregon Wild, American Whitewater, Klamath Audubon Society, plus some tribes and government agencies. The resource management plan. Also, pg. 53: "KBRA (Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement). 2010. Klamath basin restoration agreement for the sustainability of public and trust resources and affected communities."
9/12/11: Klamath Basin residents just received notice that their farmland and homes would be destroyed with the creation of a new hydropower facility and reservoir. The following 2009 article is all we have found on the issue: Biomass plants likely to keep people away, H&N 6/12/11, letter by Annette Belz, Klamath Falls. Second biomass plant endangers air quality, H&N letter to editor by Paul Fouch, President Save Our Rural Oregon, Klamath Falls, posted to KBC 6/11/11 Another biomass plant? Proposal would be the second facility built off Highway 66 west of Klamath Falls, H&N, posted to KBC 6/11/11 Air quality and biomass receive a failing grade, H&N letter by Fred Charles, Klamath Falls, posted to KBC 6/11/11. "A while back Klamath County received another “F” grade for air quality from the American Lung Association." Klamath issues: "Protecting the Federal Hydropower Investment: A Stakeholder's Perspective" Opening Statement by Congressman Tom McClintock, Chairman, House Water and Power Subcommittee. Oversight Hearing on “Protecting the Federal Hydropower Investment: A Stakeholder’s Perspective,” posted to KBC 5/21/11.
Senator Doug Whitsett March 4, 2011 Newsletter. "Ethanol production currently comprises just 8% of the US demand for vehicle fuel, but it requires 40% of the US corn crop to produce...About a tenth of the world’s production of cereal output is projected to be used for ethanol production if all of the world’s present targets for ethanol are to be met. The certain result will cause food prices to rise from 15-40% worldwide. Millions of humans will go hungry on a global scale as food prices are driven out of their reach due to biofuels production." Three biomass plants? Hundreds of jobs? H&N 2/26/11 Klamath biomass plant site a threat to air quality, proposed location would also increase Basin’s air pollution, H&N, posted to KBC 2/6/11 Biomass emission tests should be complete, H&N letter by Greg Beckman Sr, posted to KBC 1/23/11 Medicine Lake geothermal issue goes back to BLM, Siskiyou Daily, posted to KBC 12/23/10. HERE for Medicine Lake Page Biomass meeting draws protests, H&N, posted 12/19/10 Lakeview biomass: Good project, wrong place; Aquifer under location contaminated with byproducts of old uranium mill, H&N guest writer Chris Zinda, posted to KBC 12/8/10
Ahh, yes: biomass will solve all our problems,
H&N by Fred Charles, Klamath Falls, letter
to editor. PRESS RELEASE: Solar Energy Project to Aid Klamath Irrigators, PacifiCorp 9/30/09 From Colby Marshall, Oregon Congressman Greg Walden's Representative: Biomass 6/3/09 County supervisors pass renewable energy resolution, Siskiyou Daily News 4/14/09
*
Renewable
Energy Conference Invitation 4/23/09,
from Jennifer Simon, USDA FSA
Executive Director Tribes want policies to help them aid nation’s hydropower needs, Indian Country, posted to KBC 3/27/09. (KBC NOTE: 4 Klamath River Tribes want to tear down our Klamath River hydropower serving 70,000 households annually. In the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, Klamath Tribe in addition to dam removal, wants to be given part of the reservation they sold, water rights "with the priority date of time immemorial", funds, and neighboring land.) Klamath Tribe document of intensions
Hydropower potential; Claims staked for regional power sites,
H&N 3/15/09 Don't ignore hydroelectric, The Coloradoan, posted to KBC 3/3/09. "...the reports indicate that the hydroelectric facilities costs are nominally 25 percent of, or less than, the same costs for wind and solar." Interior’s Delay on OCS Leasing is really a Moratorium, House Natural Resource Committee 2/25/09 New Report Highlights Extensive Economic Benefits from Offshore Drilling, Over a Million New Jobs Would be Created, House Committee on Natural Resources 2/23/09 Salazar Voids Drilling Leases On Public Lands in Utah, Washington Post 2/5/09. "Interior Secretary Ken Salazar yesterday canceled oil and gas leases on 77 parcels of federal land after opponents said the drilling would blight Utah's scenic southeastern corner"...Kathleen Sgamma, director of government affairs for the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, said natural gas producers in Utah and the intermountain West produce more than a quarter of the country's natural gas on less than 1 percent of its public land. 'We wonder why the administration is implementing policies that will limit economic development in the West, decrease energy security and make addressing climate change even more difficult.' " Calif. panel rejects new offshore oil drilling, Sac Bee, posted 2/1/09. "...House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other members of the California congressional delegation who also expressed concern that approving a drilling proposal could undercut their efforts to reintroduce the federal moratorium." Hydro power shows signs of comeback, Seattle Times NW, posted to KBC 12/30/08 Alternative Energy, talk on KFLS by |
