Letter to KBC News and other newspapers 10/25/16

Please vote against Klamath dams removals

We are 4 generations on the Klamath River directly below where Iron Gate now exists.  We have witnessed the dramatic improvements Klamath Hydroelectric Facilities and water storage made to our beloved river and environment, including fisheries.  Monitored data and studies now support previously dismissed regional experience and historical documentation.  That data and statistical results from over 16 years of Upper Klamath Basin regulatory oppression refute hypothetically based rhetoric and failed agenda claims pushed by benefitting special interests.  Data confirms the Project holistic Klamath River environmental benefits from Upper Basin surface water irrigation; REDUCED Upper Klamath Lake levels; REDUCED marsh ‘restoration’; and the ONLY known cost effective treatment of naturally occurring conditions being provided by downstream reservoirs.  That data and proven water quality improvements provided by Facilities towards a more salmon conducive downstream habitat will ‘coincidentally’ NOT be considered for crisis-creating ‘Biological Opinion’ revision until long AFTER Hydroelectric and water storage facilities are scheduled for irreversible destruction.  Local experience, historical documentation, and current studies support that salmon, for MULTIPLE reasons, were never known in ANY identified numbers beyond where the current Project facilities now exist.  Destruction of facility-provided Klamath benefits ‘unlock the gates’ for ‘Biological Opinions’ to increase unaccountable special interest agenda ‘rewilding’ devastation to the Upper Basin.  Imposition of historically contradicted ‘salmon habitat’ designation into the Basin pitting requirements for two incompatible species will make the catastrophic losses already endured for failed sucker fish policies a proverbial ‘walk in the park’.  Rewilding ‘restoration’ intends to return the Upper Klamath Basin to the naturally inconsistent, less productive, and transitionally vulnerable environment it was known to be.  Removals permanently assure already experienced repetitive agenda imposed uncertainty and hardship to a region previously Project optimized and enjoying the environmentally balanced benefits we have known.  Please vote for our future and AGAINST Dams removals.

Rex Cozzalio, Hornbrook, CA