KID / Klamath Irrigation District

Official Klamath Irrigation District Website

Klamath Irrigation District's Final Water Management and Conservation Plan, 2021. "(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."

Ruling invalidates Klamath irrigators' injunction, H&N 9/9/22. “Any number of tribal and non-tribal parties can sue the government to take water away from irrigators, but irrigators can’t sue to protect their own interests in water.”

Water dispute should be decided in court
"As with all government activities, the Klamath Project should be operated in accordance with law, not illegal shut-off orders, illegal water diversions, nor thuggish federal extortion tactics."
< by Klamath Irrigation District Executive Director Gene Souza, Herald and News 8/27/22
KBC Explanation: Bureau of Reclamation encouraged farmers to fallow their land this season because there would not be enough of our stored water for crops. Thousands of acres were fallowed. There is abundant water. On August 19: The Blackmail: the Bureau illegally told our water districts that if they did not shut off water to their customers, they would not allow any irrigator to be paid for fallowing their land.
 

Klamath Irrigation District July 22, 2022 UPDATE:  https://myemail.constantcontact.com/22-July-2022-Update-from-Klamath-Irrigation-District.html?soid=1137800206451&aid=aUivAuN6Q5I
 Upcoming Events
 Water Supply Updates
 Changes in K.I.D. operations
 K.I.D. Career opportunities
 Funding opportunities

USFWS irrationally withholds from Klamath Irrigators 3-Feet of their stored water
Klamath Lake Water Supply Update, KID July 22, 2022 Update:
   "In March and April of 2022, the districts communicated with Reclamation staff proposals to manage Upper Klamath Lake to the 2019 Biological Opinion level for C'waam and Kaptu habitat recognizing the need to protect these species and to not take the lake to our stored water right of 4,136.0 (Reclamation datum)
   USFWS previously communicated the biological need for the C'waam and Kaptu as an elevation of 4,137.7' (Reclamation datum) allowing the endangered fish to have over 3 feet of water above a natural reef into Pelican Bay. Reclamation then updated this elevation with simply hydrology model outputs, without a biological foundation to maintain lake elevations in excess of 4,138.00' in 2019.

Klamath Irrigation District's Final Water Management and Conservation Plan, 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."

< Klamath River occasionally went dry before the Klamath Project was built. Today the Bureau of Reclamation mandates higher-than historic water levels of our stored irrigation water to send down Klamath River to the ocean "for salmon" which don't create more salmon.

Klamath Irrigation District comment letter to Draft EIR/Environmental Impact Statement to FERC/Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding Klamath River Hydroelectric dam destruction 4/18/22. "KID requests FERC decline to approve a Final EIS until the document reflects the "hard look" required by the law, based on accurate and complete historical data. KID also requests FERC consult with KID in order to ensure that impacts to the irrigators are adequately treated in the document so the public will know the full potential aftermath of dam removal."

Klamath irrigators vote for water deliveries even if it puts federal drought funding at risk, OPB 4/5/22. "Out of 377 votes, 319 KID members voted ‘yes’ to the ballot question: “Pursuant to both our federal contract obligations and state water rights, do you want the district to attempt to deliver you water knowing it will likely complicate federal drought funding?”
(KID manager Gene Souza) says that drought funding makes up a fraction of what would be generated by farmers and which would, in turn, stimulate the local economy..."

KID / Klamath Irrigation District VOTE: Attempt to get water, or get $$$$$$$
   "During Klamath Irrigation District’s March 2022 Board of Directors meeting, the Board decided to put to vote the following question to our patrons:

KID / Klamath Irrigation District March NOTICE: Request for Water Conservation Program Support March 2022.

Klamath Irrigation District opposition to Barnes Agency Project 11/11/21. "...the analysis indicates the Klamath River below Keno will loose on average 37,000 acre-feet of water per year (with a range of loss between 4,000 and 75,000 acre feet....  more than 50% of the increased storage created by this project will be lost to ET, with 27,000 to 46,000 acre-feet of water loss. This amount of loss is more than the water-right holders within the Klamath Project received in 2021; this amount is more than the full-water right and combined need of Shasta View Irrigation District, Malin Irrigation District, Enterprise Irrigation District, Sunnyside Irrigation District, Poe Valley Improvement District, and Pine Grove Irrigation District to which we are contractually obligated to deliver irrigation water from Upper Klamath Lake..."

Klamath Irrigation District October Newsletter pdf, posted to KBC 11/1/21. Water situation, KID litigation, and Interior opinion.
Go to http://klamathirrigation.com for Klamath Irrigation District website for meetings, updates, litigation, farm aid.

Klamath Water Users Association/KWUA wants more money from irrigators now; Letter to Klamath Irrigation District / KID from KWUA, 10/6/21. "...I request that you approve and send a supplemental assessment of $1.75 per acre so that KWUA can continue to operate and pay bills through the end of the year. We have most significantly exceeded the board-approved 2021 budget for lobbying expenses..." KBC NOTE: We were informed that there are approximately 225,000 farmable acres in the Klamath Project, and 175,000 acres obtain water from Klamath Lake. This year the Bureau of Reclamation had a court order that it could not use our stored water for any purpose besides irrigation, however they denied irrigators their water, and even exceeded by 41,808 acre feet above the biological opinion for suckers. So, 225,000 acres times $1.75 = $393,750 from irrigators who paid their O&M water bill this spring, who received none of their Klamath Lake stored water. 
Klamath Water Users Association/KWUA activities and accomplishments 9/30/21

Letter from Klamath Irrigation District to Bureau of Reclamation 5/14/21.
* The 1954 Contract Does Not Grant Reclamation Total Discretion to Curtail Diversions
* Reclamation reinstallation of bulkheads violates KID’s 1954 contract
* Section 9 of ESA does not authorize Reclamation to preemptively curtail KID diversions
* Reclamation is liable for all damages directly or indirectly resulting from its resumption of operational control of the A-Canal
* KID is reassuming operational control and removing bulkheads

BOR letter to Klamath Irrigation District: No Water for Klamath Irrigators in 2021 5/12/21

Final order prohibiting release of stored irrigation water, OWRD / Oregon Water Resources Dept, 4/6/21

* Bureau of Reclamation's threat to KID / Klamath Irrigation District, posted to KBC 4/6/2021. Letter from Bureau of Reclamation to Klamath Irrigation District attorney Nathan Rietmann, threatening KID with federal court and "potential suspension or exclusion from the drought relief funding program this year..." if KID so much as takes their stored irrigation water from Klamath Lake, "even to charge the canals." April 2, 2021

KID Letter to Patrons of Klamath Irrigation District and our stakeholders, including water status, Bureau of Reclamation bleak irrigation water forecast, and KID lawsuit 4/2/21.

Klamath Project Water Availability from Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River, Bureau of Reclamation 4/2/21. "Reclamation now anticipates this delay to be at least through May 1, 2021, and likely further in time..."

Klamath Irrigation District v. US Bureau of Reclamation, regarding Waters of the Klamath River Basin, Emergency Motion for Preliminary Injunction 3/29/21. "...Reclamation sometimes says it is using stored water in UKL to fulfill trust obligations it has to the Hoopa Valley and Yurok Tribes, both of which are located in California. But Reclamation’s trust obligations to the tribes in California afford no water rights to use stored water in UKL, as neither Tribe (nor Reclamation on their behalf) has ever claimed a water right in UKL in the Klamath Adjudication..."

Klamath Project Water is currently unavailable from Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River, Bureau Of Reclamation Notice to Project irrigators, 3/12/21. "This letter is to notify you that water is currently unavailable from Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) and the Klamath River for irrigation purposes within the Klamath Project (Project) for the reasons further explained below. Accordingly, your district is hereby directed to delay diversions of water from UKL and the Klamath River until further notice..."

Klamath Irrigation District updated Klamath water supply tracking charts at http://klamathirrigation.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/WaterManagementUpdate_202103.pdf

Klamath Irrigation District Special Winter Edition, February 2021: KID litigation, Drought, Interior Opinion, OWRD litigation, 2021 water year analysis, etc...

New Court Ruling Could Prevent Curtailments of Irrigation in Upper Klamath Lake Tributaries, KWUA News Advisory, posted to KBC 2/25/21. "The ruling has no immediate consequences for Klamath Project irrigators. Administratively-recognized water rights in Upper Klamath Lake cannot be asserted against the Klamath Project under an agreement made several years ago. Klamath Project irrigators have the right to contest the quantification of that right later in the court phase."

Oregon Supreme Court: Order denying petition for Writ of Mandamus and dismissing motion to stay, signed by Martha L. Walters, Chief Justice, Supreme Court 2/2/2021. In KID vs OWRD, The supreme court denied OWRD stay. They must abide by Judge Bennett's order and take over the Link River dam and abide by Oregon Law.

Feds reassess Klamath Project water delivery obligations, Capital Press, posted to KBC 1/22/21. "Agency finds no legal right to curtail water deliveries under ESA, as in the past"...."Biden has nominated Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., as Interior secretary. If confirmed, she would be the first Native American cabinet secretary and head of the Interior Department."

KWUA NEWS RELEASE: Bureau of Reclamation updates guidance for Klamath Project Operations under Endangered Species Act and water law 1/19/2021. “...Reclamation has found that it still has duties for species protection, but those duties do not include imposing harmful shortages on irrigation as we have seen in the past...”

KID wins again, Oregon Court of Appeals, KID vs OWRD 1/14/2021. OWRD's/Oregon Water Resources Department's motion for stay is now "moot". Judge Bennett's order, that OWRD must not allow stored water in Klamath Lake reserved for irrigation to be illegally used or dumped into the ocean, is not currently appealable.

ANOTHER WIN FOR KID / KLAMATH IRRIGATION DISTRICT, KID vs OWRD:
Judge Bennett Order on Motion for Reconciliation posted to KBC 1/7/21. DENIED. Judge Bennett's ORDER: "Respondents' (OWRD) Motion restates their misapprehension of this courts Orders in 20CV17922 and 20CV15606. Respondents' accepted exclusive jurisdiction over the UKL pursuant to ORS 540.210. Respondents are required by that statute to divide and distribute the water therefrom in accordance with the respective and relative rights of the various users. Despite this statutory obligation, Respondents have continued to allow the Bureau of Reclamation to take Stored Water without determining the Bureau's right to do so. The Respondents continue to violate the Oregon Water Rights Act by allowing the Bureau to take and use Stored Water in the UKL without determining it is entitled to do so as required by ORS 540.210. Respondents must stop the release until a determination is made pursuant to ORS 540.740. Nothing in the Court's Order dictates how the Respondents make the determination or what criteria is used. TPC, LLC v. OWRD, 308 Or.App. 177 is not analogous or factually similar to this case. MAKE A DETERMINATION"

***Circuit Court of Oregon to Klamath Irrigation District, KID vs OWRD (Oregon Water Resources Department) 12/17/20. "...the Oregon Water Rights Act and this court's order...require the Respondents, and in particular the Watermaster, Danette Watson, to prohibit the distribution of Stored Water unless it is for a legally permissible use by parties with an established right or license to use the Stored Water...Petitioner, having an established interest in the Stored Water in the UKL, certainly has standing to demand that the Watermaster stop the distribution to any person who does not have a right, recognized by OWRD, to take and use the Stored Water."

Reschke, Iverson: Oregon must stop sending Klamath water to California, H&N 11/3/2020. "Instead of complying with the court order, however, OWRD announced they plan to fight the ruling. OWRD is seeking a legal stay to allow them to continue to illegally divert water while their appeal is pending. And now California special interest groups are joining OWRD in the lawsuit."

Klamath Irrigation District court case continues, H&N 11/2/20. KID attorney Reitmann: “Just because the Bureau has an obligation to provide water for the Yurok Tribe doesn’t give them the right to go steal someone else’s...” 

Oregon water regulators to recoup Klamath costs, order devices, Capital Press 9/22/2020. "Oregon’s water regulators plan to recoup the cost of investigating Klamath Basin irrigation diversions from farmers while requiring others to install measurement devices. The actions stem from a court ruling that determined the Oregon Water Resources Department had unlawfully allowed the federal government to release water from Upper Klamath Lake for in-stream purposes that should have gone to the Klamath Irrigation District."

Klamath Irrigation District Manager responds to the question, "How much water was illegally taken from Project irrigators and sent to the ocean this year" 9/15/2020

Klamath Irrigation District scores victory in water rights case, Capital Press 8/7/2020. "No party has provided this court with law or fact which allows the bureau the right to use stored water in the (Upper Klamath Lake) without a permit or license,” Bennett wrote in his opinion. “OWRD’s failure is a deprivation of a precious resource belonging to the people of Oregon. OWRD failure is also an infringement of property rights of established users, permittees and licensees.”

***KID / Klamath Irrigation District vs OWRD/Oregon Water Resources Department 7/30/20: "...respondents are ordered to stop releasing Stored Water from the UKL (Upper Klamath Lake) without determining that the release is for a permitted purpose by users with an established right, license, or permit to use the Stored Water in the UKL"

On our Klamath Basin Crisis Facebook Page, a question was asked "Why are the Yutok stating they did not receive the 40,000af flushing flows per the Herald and News ? "
Klamath Irrigation District manager Gene Souze responded, "the 40,000 is an additional augmentation to 400,000 environmental water agreed to by Reclamation to stay a 50,000 litigation for more in this drought year. To date they have received nearly 250,000 + 7000 + 8000...and should have well over 422,500 by the end of September. For them to complain about not getting water..."

Klamath Irrigation District requests a temporary restraining order against OWRD, Director Byler and Watermaster Watson, filed 6/12/2020. Bureau Of Reclamation, with an agreement with PacifiCorp, is presently diverting an extreme amount Klamath Irrigators' stored water into Klamath River, and Upper Klamath Lake elevation is rapidly lowering: "...enough to supply one acre foot of water to at least the 10,342 acres of land in Klamath Basin Improvement District, 3,911 acres of land in Shasta View Irrigation District, 2,981 acres of land within Enterprise Irrigation, and 904 acres of land in Pine Grove Irrigation District, which are shut-off and not receiving any water from UKL reservoir..."

Water crisis looming on Klamath Project, by Lyle Ahrens, KOBI KOTI TV 5/13/2020. KID Manager Gene Souza: “Based on the information that I have from Reclamation, we could be seeing a cutoff for Klamath Irrigation District as soon as June 15th...Hundreds of millions of dollars in workers, in restaurants, in equipment, transportation, fuel, everything that keeps this basin going is at risk right now...”

Klamath in Peril - Three Decades as a Klamath Project Irrigator: Observations Heading into a Grim Irrigation Season, by Klamath Irrigation District President Ty Kleiwer, farmer and rancher 5/13/2020  "...We are on a pathway to doom and it appears this year brings another disaster, likely with worse consequences than what we faced in 2001, the first and only time until now that the Klamath Irrigation Project was shut down for the perceived benefit of fish protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA)...this federal water project...was developed solely to provide stored water for irrigation of local farm and ranch lands...this largely government-caused “drought” has the same roots of cause as the 2001 crisis: a scientifically unjustified, narrow focus on lake levels and downstream flow releases to avoid jeopardizing ESA-listed fish. While our local farming community will once again carry the burden of these devastating federal directives, the imperiled fish populations show no positive response to these actions...Many farmers in the basin are descendants of World War I and World War II veterans who won homesteads in the basin, or are descendants of Czechoslovakian immigrants who fled wartime unrest in Europe to find security and prosperity in the Klamath Project..."

Response to massive flows diverted out of Klamath Project irrigation water storage by Klamath River resident Rex Cozzalio, Hornbrook, posted to KBC 5/4/2020 "...For them to continue water wasting against court orders is revealingly ironic, when BOR, OWR, and 'collaborators' are all too happy to comply when court orders are AGAINST the Upper Basin irrigators.  I truly hope this can intervene soon enough to avert total Upper Basin carnage this year..."

Klamath Project operations unchanged by OWRD ruling, H&N 4/26/2020. KBC Note: The article reads: "The order urges the Bureau of Reclamation to stop releasing stored water from Upper Klamath Lake..."  The court order reads: "The BOR is hereby ordered to cease releasing stored water from UKL reservoir..." They continue to divert our stored water out of Upper Klamath Lake.

TID, KID anticipate significant Klamath water supply shortfall, H&N, posted to KBC 4/26/2020. "...We fear being able to start and then getting shut down for the rest of the season, like mid-season...”

Reclamation releases Interim Operating Procedures and 2020 Operations Plan for the Klamath Project, Bureau of Reclamation News Release 4/22/2020. "the Project supply from Upper Klamath Lake for the 2020 irrigation season is approximately 140,000 acre-feet. This volume is approximately one-third the historical irrigation demand of the Klamath Project...The 2020 Operations Plan ... provides increased water flows in the Klamath River for Endangered Species Act-listed coho, as well as Chinook salmon, and maintains Upper Klamath Lake elevations important for endangered Lost River and shortnose suckers..." KBC NOTE: Rec concludes "...Finding of No Significant Impact related to the Interim Operating Procedures..." however the plan states that "...involuntary land fallowing of productive irrigable land within the Proposed Action Alternative area would occur leading to an increased risk to local rural agricultural communities.” OUR "risk" of them putting our stored water into the ocean: No water, no farms.

OWRD takes charge of Upper Klamath Lake, H&N 4/24/2020. "The (court) order said it prohibits U.S. Bureau of Reclamation from diverting stored water in Upper Klamath Lake through Link River for purposes of a 50,000 acre-feet flushing flow without a water right."  KBC NOTE: Rumor has it that the Bureau is defying the court order and continues to divert our stored water into the ocean.

OWRD/Oregon Water Resource Dept: Interim Order Concerning Release of Stored Water, 4/23/2020. "The Department confirms that as of April 16, 2020, it has taken exclusive charge of the UKL for the purpose of dividing and distributing the water therefrom in accordance with the respective and relative rights of the various users of water from the ditch or reservoir..."

ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF MANDAMUS, KID v OWRD 4/21/2020

BOR updates KID on water operations, H&N 2/17/19
BOR map of current Klamath Basin water storage 02/17/19

Klamath Water Users in transition: 'Nasty' water year takes toll on former director, KID's watermaster resigns, and Pay-out coming for drought relief applicants, H&N 1/13/19

KID taps Henley High grad as manager, H&N 1/11/19

Klamath Irrigation District celebrates 100th anniversary, H&N 10/21/18.
MERRILL — Klamath Irrigation District invites the public to attend its “100-years of Water and Infrastructure” event on Friday, Oct. 26, according to a news release. A light luncheon will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Merrill Civic Center. An RSVP is requested no later than 4:30 p.m. Oct. 22 by contacting the KID office at 541-882-6661.

KID's manager, office specialist on administrative leave, H&N 8/16/18.

KID forms drought response agency, H&N 6/15/18

Notice of potential litigation for defamation by Kogan Law Group against Herald & News, Ed Bair, Ross Fleming, Jason Chapman, more..6/7/18.

Klamath Irrigation District holds off on water delivery, H&N 5/9/18. "...Martin said the court-ordered flushing flows by U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick that the Bureau is required to meet, is another reason the district did not start water delivery..."

KID talks water, efficiency with Tribes, H&N 4/30/18

KID (Klamath Irrigation District) seeks state control over water distribution, H&N,  4/29/18.
KID letter to the state, H&N, 4/24/18

Tensions rise at KID (Klamath Irrigation District); Irrigators allege water mismanagement, H&N 4/24/18. "KID members claim PacifiCorp is sending excess water down the Klamath River and that the BOR is not managing their water effectively. “That water is basically getting stolen from us,” Kliewer said. “The Project has the superior water right in the Basin. PacifiCorp has a junior water right to us, and right now, and the way PacifiCorp has operated, basically whatever way they want, they just take it … We are a big body of water that’s really easy to steal.” "(Klamath Project irrigators are awaiting a) ruling from Judge William H. Orrick regarding water delivery for the Project."

BOR PRESS RELEASE: Reclamation Responds to Klamath Water Users’ Motion in District Court, Outlines Proposed 2018 Operations, 3/24/18. "Reclamation’s proposal includes implementing a full surface flushing flow, augmented with non-Project water; forgoing an emergency dilution flow; and providing Klamath Project irrigators with a supply of 252,000 acre-feet – 65 percent of a full project supply – with deliveries commencing on April 19 with charging of main canal networks."

KID threatens to file suit against BOR; District requiring BOR response by Wed, H&N 3/23/18. " '...by the Bureau not distributing water in accordance with water law as it exists, they're causing irreparable harm to every irrigator in the state,' Reitmann said."

KID chair wants to meet with Tribes, H&N 2/16/18. “There is a major problem with the sucker population,” Kliewer said. “For 25 years, the answer has been more water, more water, more water. “That’s not the right answer...”

KID delays project irrigation season, H&N 2/11/18.

Klamath Irrigation District turns 100, H&N 12/28/17

KID, KWUA to intervene in dam removal, H&N 11/7/17

Longtime KID board member resigns, H&N 8/16/17

KID rejoins KWUA after a year's absence, H&N 3/1/17

KID's Knoll survives recall vote, H&N 11/8/16. "Knoll wrote: 'The person mounting the recall attempt has baseless accusations that are completely false and have no merit. He lost an election against me by 90 percent...' "

KID chairman Brent Cheyne recalled; (Ken) Smith survives recall, H&N 10/12/16

False Statements in Recall Petitions of Klamath Irrigation District Recall Campaign  https://nebula.wsimg.com/8863cc9a49b55f88e836370db9b36b09?AccessKeyId=39A2DC689E4CA87C906D&disposition=0&alloworigin=1 " reposted 10/12/16

ITSSD Ethics Violations Complaint Against Ed Bair, David Cacka, Greg Carleton, Jason Chapman and Ross Fleming  10/11/16

Find out KID facts, then decide on recall by Ken Schell, Klamath Falls, H&N letter to editor 10/7/16. "Go to KID office and ask if anything was changed on the C flume and R&G Excavating contracts. The recall petitioners are so set on a recall they are, and have been, making a lot of things up to discredit the three board members under recall..."

AUDIO-KID / Klamath Irrigation District emergency meeting 6/24/16, posted 10/7/16, called while the 3 newest elected board members were absent. Those wanting to recall the newest elected members also want KID to rejoin as a member of Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA), and they support the controversial Klamath dam removal agreements. These are both moves that the new elected board members oppose.
    A few of the Pro-dam removal agreement attendees were State Representative Candidate Al Switzer (D), Family Farm Alliance executive director and former KWAPA engineer, KWUA executive director and former Bureau of Reclamation employee Dan Keppen, former KID board member Ed Bair, former Klamath Fish and Wildlife field supervisor Curt Mullis, Basin Fertilizer owner Bob Gasser, and dozens more. (Click HERE for sign-in list of attendees) While listening listen for openness, courtesy and respect. Why are these features absent from those who desire the recall "for the good of the members?"

2 KID recall election complaints filed, H&N 10/7/16. Comments: Lawrence Kogan - "Since this article does not correctly link to the ITSSD complaint to the Elections Division, we have provided a working link to the ITSSD complaint and all 26 exhibits supporting it: False Statements in Recall Petitions of Klamath Irrigation District Recall Campaign  https://nebula.wsimg.com/8863cc9a49b55f88e836370db9b36b09?AccessKeyId=39A2DC689E4CA87C906D&disposition=0&alloworigin=1 "

Vote 'no' on recall of KID directors, H&N letter by Marcy  Anderson, Klamath Falls, posted to KBC 10/8/16. "Don’t let the scare tactics of Bair, Fleming and Chapman keep you from casting your vote at the Klamath Irrigation District office Oct. 12..."

KID board members don't deserve recall, H&N letter by Pat Lunde 10/7/16. "I question the real reasons this board is under recall. Do you think it has anything to do with Cheyne, Smith and Knoll opposing dam removal and withdrawing KID from Klamath Water Users?..."

Vote 'no', put the sour grapes behind, H&N letter to editor by David Oxley, Poe Valley 10/7/16. "The three chief petitioners have circulated prospective petitions around with false statements and lies. These are being investigated at this time. It should also be known that the three chief petitioners for the recall are the three ex-board members that were voted out of office in the recent elections."

Ad has cleared up many KID questions, H&N letter to editor by Jolene Smith 10/2/16

BREAKING NEWS - REIMBURSEMENT OF A-CANAL HEAD GATES AND FISH SCREENS ON THE KLAMATH PROJECT, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Dept of the Interior, Michael P. Colombo (Western Regional Manager for Audits, Inspections, and Evaluations, sent to David Murillo Mid-Pacific Regional Director, Bureau of Reclamation on 9/27/16, "... From limited documentation that was available to us, however, it appears the design and construction costs alone represent between $16 million and $20 million of costs that should be recovered from KID..."   Board members at the time of the agreement were  David Cacka, Ed Bair, Greg Carlton, Ross Fleming and Jason Chapman. Paying patrons of irrigation districts were allowed no vote on whether they supported the KBRA.

PRESS RELEASE: ITSSD Seeks added public transparency & accountability: files revised Bureau of Reclamation FOIAs and Oregon state government public records requests, 7/28/16. "Today, in furtherance of its effort to bring government public transparency and accountability to the Klamath Basin, the nonprofit Institute for Trade, Standards and Sustainable Development (“ITSSD”) filed Revised Freedom of Information Act Requests"

Recall launched against three KID board members, H&N 7/26/16

KID lawyer claims bias by newspaper by former Klamath Irrigation District attorney Lawrence Kogan, letter to the editor of Herald and News 7/26/16

Second KID attorney responds to ethics complaints, H&N 7/21/16

Put aside conflict, move KID forward, H&N letter to the editor by Pat Lunde, Klamath Falls 5/28/16

KID board is doing what was requested, H&N letter to editor by Marvin Cantrell, Klamath Falls 5/28/16

KID new leadership is doing things right, Letter to the editor of H&N by Ken Schell, Klamath Falls May 25, 2016

Email Correspondence from D. Murillo, USBR mid-Pacific Director to L. Kogan, KID attorney Re: C Flume Contract Date, 5/18/16

Attorney Kogan Law Group, representing Klamath Irrigation District and Siskiyou County Water Users, letter to Kevin Eastman, Legislative Director for U.S. Congressman Doug LaMalfa 5/18/16

Klamath Irrigation District response to BOR’s Explanation for Not Providing Klamath Project debt accounting since 2001,  5/11/16. "The BOR has had ample opportunity since 2001 to provide the SPCCRs on a timely basis as the Reclamation Manual requires, especially since multiple KID requests have been made for the agency’s production and delivery of such documents..."
Bureau of Reclamation excuse/response to KID / Klamath Irrigation District for not providing Klamath Project Debt figures to Project irrigators from 2001-2015, posted to KBC 5/18/16. (KBC NOTE - Project irrigators have been told since 2001 that they owe a huge debt, but if they just sign on to the KBRA / Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, their debt will go away. However they still refuse to tell the irrigators what that debt is.)

4/2016 - KBC Note: The newest KID board had rejected the Klamath settlement 'agreements', questions signing on for the multimillion$ C Flume that BOR says must be signed 'as is' or they will shut off KID water). KID is questioning signing onto Interior's newest Klamath Agreements which they were given no input and less than a week to read before Interior and the States signed on. They question being part of KWUA/Klamath Water Users Association, and continuing to help fund Family Farm Alliance which now supports the Klamath hydro dam destruction (which will decimate what's left of Siskiyou County after the spotted owl scam).

Klamath Irrigation District opposes river agreement, KTVL 4/21/16

Klamath BOR director (Therese O’Rourke Bradford) leaving, H&N 4/23/16

Letter from KID to Congressman Greg Walden requesting his presence at Bureau of Reclamation Meeting in Sacramento because of the Bureau's unachievable demands of KID, 4/19/16. "The KID’s signing of the BOR financing contract as-is, in other words, would leave the KID and its members saddled with substantial debt, entirely at the mercy of the BOR without legal recourse, and unable to control, let alone, purchase its Project transferred works...The second purpose of the forthcoming Sacramento meeting is to address the BOR’s ongoing failure to provide the KID with an annual accounting of its net Operations & Management ("O&M") expenditures... Ms. Bradford and Mr. Driscoll stated that they were unable to determine this amount...We found this statement, upon subsequent investigation, to be patently untrue....a 2014 U.S. General Accountability Office report reveals, the BOR has apparently failed to meet its legal obligation to determine, less provide, the required annual Statements of Project Construction Cost and Repayment ("SPCCR") setting forth each district’s respective share of the Project’s accumulated repayment obligation, since at least 2001 – the time of the infamous Bucket Brigade protest against the BOR’s shutoff of water to the Project....the absence of annual accountings renders the Project "transferred works" vulnerable to BOR take-back...Ms. Bradford and Mr. Driscoll also have so significantly inserted themselves into the KID’s business relationship with its C Canal Flume engineering contractor that they essentially dictated the engineering consultants’ recommendations for C Flume replacement and the previous KID Board’s and manager’s decisions to accept them."

Klamath Falls - Bureau of Reclamation makes offer irrigators can’t refuse, by KID attorney Lawrence Kogan for the Capital Press April 20, 2016

* Klamath Irrigation District Board of Directors monthly public meeting agenda, Thursday 4/14/16, 10 a.m. Fairgrounds.

MEMORANDUM - April 8, 2016 From: Attorney Lawrence Kogan To: KID Board Members Re: Relationship Between BOR C Flume Replacement Financing Contract and Basin Agreements. KBC NOTE: KID/Klamath Irrigation District board members were told by the Bureau of Reclamation that if they did not vote to replace the C Flume for millions of dollars and unacceptable wording, their water would be shut off. Blackmailed into signing with little time to realize the carefully designed trickery by Klamath Water Users Association and democrat senators Wyden and Merkley, a leaked document caused KID attorney to see the hidden connection between the C Flume and the Klamath agreements that KID opposes.

Hydro agreement changes made without using the rule of law, H&N letter by Laurence A Kogan, Esq guest writer for H&N 4/10/16

Klamath Irrigation Demand for Copy of Newly Amended Text of Amended KHSA; Invocation of KHSA Notice and Dispute Provisions, 4/5/16. "The letter below and attached letter is from KID / Klamath Irrigation attorney to Klamath Agreements’ facilitator Ed Sheets regarding late copy of the newly amended text of amended KHSA (dam removal) ‘agreement’, plus KID filing a notice of dispute. With no public transparency, no support by Siskiyou Board of Supervisors, Klamath County Board of Commissioners, local Congressmen, Senators or other elected officials, Dept of Interior yesterday proclaimed that tomorrow, April 6th, the states and environmental groups, tribes and a few farmers, would sign an “agreement” that effects our water rights, destroys dams..."

"KID officially invokes the Notice and Dispute provisions of Articles 8.5 and 8.6 of the KHSA, which requires all KSHA parties to meet and confer to resolve this dispute pursuant to the provisions of KHSA Article 8.7"

State, federal officials sign new Klamath dam agreements, Capital Press, posted to KBC 4/10/16. “We are objecting to the process that they violated and continue to violate,” Kogan told the Capital Press, adding that the district may sue to block the agreement...

***Federal, State, Tribal and Environmentalist efforts to curtail irrigation in the Klamath Basin, 4/4/16. "The Klamath Irrigation District Board and many District members are very concerned about the ongoing clandestine efforts of the U.S. Department of Interior (“DOI”)’s Bureau of Reclamation (“BOR”), in cooperation with the DOI’s Fish & Wildlife Service (“FWS”), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”), the U.S. Department of ...and Warren Buffet's PacifiCorps to diminish the use of irrigation and the access of the Klamath Irrigation Project to irrigation water in the Klamath Basin by: 1) removing four perfectly operational dams in the Lower Basin (John C Boyle, Copco 1, Copco 2 and Iron Gate); 2) transferring to the BOR...."  "...perhaps, certain BOR officials based in the local Klamath Falls, Oregon, Sacramento, California, Denver, Colorado, and Washington, D.C. offices, along with certain Klamath Basin irrigator members of the Klamath Water and Power Association (“KWAPA”) who are also members of the Klamath Water Users Association
(“KWUA”) may have committed federal crimes..."
INCLUDED in the above link are the following documents: "In the interest of public transparency, we have made the following documents relating to these issues available online:  KBRC  KBRA  UKBCA  KHSA (original)  KHSA (containing new amendments)  BOR's one-sided take-it-or-leave-it high debt burden financing agreement  KPFA (new)  Merkley-Wyden bill (linking signing of amended KHSA, tribal water rights preference, BOR reimbursable C Flume financing & lower cost power via signing of new KPFA)  KID Press Statement  BOR Take-or-Leave-it C-Flume Financing Agreement  KID-Modified Red-lined C Flume Financing Agreement  Memo to KID Board Explaining Redline Edits  Memo to KID Board Re: 3/24/16 BOR Mtg Proceedings  Exhibit 1 to KID Board Memo Re: BOR 3/24/16 Mtg  Exhibit 2 to KID Board Memo Re: BOR 3/24/16 Mtg  1954 KID-BOR Agreement  1930 Project Right-of-Way BOR Granted to BNSF Railway  1940 Project Right-of-Way BOR Granted to Oregon DOT  2014 GAO Report Re: BOR Failure to Provide Accounting to Klamath Irrigation Project & KID of Net Accumulated O&M Expenditures"

Irrigation District Dissent, H&N 2/19/16. "...the board voted 3-1 to accept KID Manager Mark Stuntebeck’s resignation and to reinstate office manager Rachelle Gates immediately. Stuntebeck and Gates were both placed on administrative leave following a KID executive session Feb. 10. Nearly 100 people and two Oregon State Police officers were present at the standing-room only meeting."

(Klamath) Irrigation board suspends two workers, H&N 2/11/16, "Cheyne, and board members Grant Knoll and Ken Smith, voted in favor of placing KID Manager Mark Stuntebeck on administrative leave...and office manager Rachelle Gates..."

Irrigation district reverses course, re-joins Klamath Water Users Association, H&N, 11/25/15. "Board member Grant Knoll, who represents KID’s Zone 3, said he voted to dissolve the district’s relationship with Water Users because his constituents do not agree with the policies Water Users stands for..." 'I’ve polled them, and they want to pull out,' Knoll said."

KID / Klamath Irrigation District leaves (Klamath) water users group, H&N posted to KBC 11/18/15. "Board member Brent Cheyne said KID irrigators pay Water Users about $238,000 per year...“It seems to me that some of the political goals of the Water Users contradicts what we are trying to do,” Bair said...."the money being paid to Water Users should instead be dedicated to paying for the multi-million dollar C Canal flume replacement. The flume delivers irrigation water to roughly 22,000 cropland acres in the Klamath Project."

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