*PRESS RELEASE*

ITSSD SEEKS ADDED PUBLIC TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY:
FILES REVISED BUREAU OF RECLAMATION FOIAS
AND OREGON STATE GOVERNMENT PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS

Princeton Junction, NJ – July 28, 2016 – 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
with the Denver, Colorado and Sacramento, California offices of the U.S.
Department of Interior Bureau of Reclamation, and new Public Records
Requests with multiple Oregon state government agencies and offices.

The Revised FOIA Request expands upon the Freedom of Information Act
(“FOIA”) Requests ITSSD filed yesterday [1] with the Denver Colorado
and Sacramento, California offices of the U.S. Department of Interior
Bureau of Reclamation. It contains additional subject matters and persons
of interest concerning initiatives that have a genuine bearing on Klamath
Irrigation Project farmers’ and ranchers’ ability to afford the very
costly Project operations & maintenance (“O&M”) obligations Reclamation
has thrust upon them...

The ITSSD also has filed new Public Records Requests with four Oregon
executive agencies, including the Oregon Departments of Energy,
Environmental Quality, Water Resources, and Fish & Wildlife.  In addition,
the ITSSD has filed a new Public Records Request with the Oregon
Governor’s Office.  Each Public Records Request seeks disclosure of
records showing communications between state government officials and the
expanded list of persons of interest about the expanded list of relevant
subject matters referred to above.

More broadly speaking, many Klamath Irrigation Project (“Project”) and
non-Project Klamath Basin residents believe they have been left in the dark
concerning the real economic stakes involved in conceding their water and
land rights, as federal, state and local public officials have called for,
to ensure implementation of the Klamath Basin Agreements...

These largely uninformed Klamath Basin residents deserve and have “a
right to know” [2] under both federal and Oregon state law as much as
possible about what federal, state and local government officials have
discussed with other Basin residents behind closed doors and in their
absence.   They need to know exactly what they must give up if the Klamath
Basin Agreements are to be implemented...

It is commonly believed that the implementation of these Agreements
supported by related impending congressional (funding) legislation will
devastate small Klamath Basin farms and ranches in favor of larger area
farms and ranches.  It is believed that this is precisely why certain
larger Klamath Project farmers and ranchers have been so vocal about their
support for the Klamath Basin Agreements, and have so aggressively opposed,
disparaged and intimidated those of their neighbors who have disagreed!

The purpose of these Revised Federal FOIA Requests and newly filed Oregon
State Public Records Requests is to ensure these Klamath Basin Project and
non-Project residents can fully exercise their “right to know” whether
these beliefs and suspicions are true...

COPIES OF THESE REVISED FEDERAL FOIAS MAY BE OBTAINED IN THE FULL VERSION OF THIS PRESS RELEASE, AVAILABLE ONLINE AT:

HTTPS://NEBULA.WSIMG.COM/F8F06C12A934F327D702064E1EFDB251?ACCESSKEYID=39A2DC689E4CA87C906D&DISPOSITION=0&ALLOWORIGIN=1

Press and media inquiries are welcome and invited.

Links:
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[1] https://nebula.wsimg.com/21394a171f79e4d54257df06d3a86f44?AccessKeyId=39A2DC689E4CA87C906D&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
[2] http://www.doj.state.or.us/public_records/citizens_guide.shtml

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