Jason Peltier,  Manager of the Central Valley Project Water Association (CVPWA)

Jason Peltier is a fifth generation Californian with a passion for fighting for the water interests of the
people of California. As the manager of the Central Valley Project Water Association (CVPWA) for the past
eleven years, he is doing just that.  See His Credentials  

Jason has emailed his permission to publish his recent statement that includes his feelings about the Klamath Basin Water Crisis.. reproduced in it's entirety below.  Thank you Jason.

April 3, 2001

Friends, 

Here is some obnoxious spin from the PCFFA [professional fish killers] blaming the evil
irrigators for the Klamath Project crisis. They complain about '..political pressure to throw
out the science..' WHAT "SCIENCE"? We are looking at the same bogus made-up, unanalyzed, best
guess kind of "science" that the ESA regulators have so clearly displayed in the Delta, the
Trinity river and elsewhere. I know they have an obligation under the law to protect the listed
species. Failure to do it with some smarts and sensitivity to the consequences for the people
of Oregon and California is the problem. 

If the regulators refuse to carry out their responsibilities in a sensible manner, not only the
people of Klamath suffer -- the ESA will be put on the chopping block. Babbitt knew this well
and regulated the regulators. He was rather public about it which upset the enviros but not the
regulators -- they were anxious to protect the Act. Where do the regulators go now? They want
to fly this crisis into the mountain and be martyrs. 

Hey, this is nothing personal about Mike Spear, but we must stand up to this mess. If the
regulators say 'we have no choice' we should be quick with the response-- if you are saying the
law made you do this horrible thing to these people, then the law must change. While we all
want to protect wildlife, if it comes to putting some [sucker] fish on a pedestal and throwing
our lives, our livelihoods and our way of life to it in some kind of a sick offering to the
almighty sucker, then we must say ENOUGH. 

This is a fight that everyone is in. Just because you don't live in Klamath Falls doesn't mean
you can sit on the sidelines and just pity the poor bastards getting run over by regulators
bloated on ESA steroids. Our founding fathers gave us this very important right, the right to
petition our government. Get your pen filled with ink. And Stand By. 

We are on the verge of a new chapter. While the 'death from a thousand cuts' will continue for
many in the West under the ESA knife, in Klamath one mighty swing of a meat axe is about to be
let loose. jp 

-------------------snip from pcffa newsletter----------- 
3:13/02. KLAMATH BIOPS UNDER INTENSE POLITICAL 
PRESSURE: Agencies proposing minimum lake levels for two species 
of ESA-listed fish in Upper Klamath Lake and minimum flows through 
Iron Gate Dam to help prevent the extinction of downriver coho salmon 
are now under intense political pressure to throw out the science so that 
federally subsidized water can be delivered to Klamath Irrigation Project 
irrigators (Sublegals 3:12/04) in what is now the worst drought on 
record for Klamath Falls. In past years major fish kills in both the 
upper and lower parts of the basin have resulted from irrigation 
withdrawals in what is already a badly over-appropriated system. The 
situation is exacerbated by the fact that the Bureau of Reclamation 
failed to take measures required to protect fish in the previous 1992 
Biological Opinions, such as screening water diversions. Poor water 
quality and reduced flows through the Klamath Project dams have 
resulted in huge economic losses to the west coast commercial fishing 
industry in ports from Florence, OR to Ft. Bragg, CA as well as triggered 
closures both north and south of the Klamath Management Zone in 
order to protect weakened Klamath River salmon runs. Water quality in 
the Klamath River is now so bad that the entire river has now been listed 
as "water quality limited," from its headwaters to the ocean, under the 
Clean Water Act. PCFFA testified before the Water and Power 
Subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee 
on the huge impact of Klamath Project operations on coastal fisheries in 
Washington, DC on 21 March (see the PCFFA Home Page at: 
www.pcffa.org ). 

On 14 March Senator Gordon Smith, joined by Representatives 
Wally Herger and Greg Walden, wrote to Secretary of Interior Gale 
Norton asking that the proposed BiOps be delayed or thrown out. On 26 
March, Klamath Project irrigators organized protest rallies and packed 
what was intended to be a small scale problem solving meeting in 
Klamath Falls. On 29 March, Oregon Senator Gordon Smith wrote 
directly to President George Bush asking his personal involvement, 
claiming that "the farmers in the Upper Klamath Basin have been under 
siege for the last eight years by the previous Administration, which had 
a decided bias against irrigated agriculture. Added to the natural drought 
is a regulatory drought that could leave them with no water for their 
crops. " Smith's letter also claimed that "there are no biological 
justifications or goals given for actions being required by the agencies" 
and asked the President to "do everything you can to avoid a regulatory 
drought in Klamath Falls that will destroy a way of life forever." Smith 
also called on the President to refer a supplemental appropriations bill 
for drought disaster relief for farmers to Congress in the near future, a 
move that has been opposed by Republican leadership fearing that 
introducing additional spending bills would undercut President Bush's 
efforts for a very large tax reduction. As a result, it may in fact be 
much harder for farmers to obtain drought relief from this 
Administration than it was from the last one. 

Regional agency decision-makers have been called to an emergency 
meeting in Washington, DC with higher up Department of Interior and 
Commerce officials on Sunday, 1 April, with involvement by the White 
House also expected. The NMFS Draft Biological Opinion chronicles many 
of the serious lower Klamath water quality problems directly attributable to 
or exacerbated by the Klamath Irrigation Project and is available on the web 
at: http://www.mp.usbr.gov/kbao/esa/draftcohobo.pdf