"Just plain logic and common
sense would dictate leaving the Klamath River dams in
place. When Cecil Andrus was Secretary of the Interior, he
flew over the Klamath River and the Klamath Irrigation
Project. He was very impressed and said it was a great
"working" river."In
1983 President Reagan appointed me the Federal
Representative and Chairman of the Klamath River Basin
Compact Commission. I continued to serve under the first
President Bush. As you probably know, the Compact and been
agreed to by both the Oregon and California legislatures
and ratified by Congress in April 1957 and it worked! Too
bad it was allowed to vanish! The value of the
hydroelectric energy produced at the dams on the Klamath
River is beyond measure. In addition to the valuable
energy, there has been flood protection that is most
important. Now, more than ever, both the energy and flood
protection is needed. Civilizations have vanished by
having no water or by bad water management.
"I sincerely hop a
reasonable solution can be reached without removing any
dams.
"Do the proponents of the
removal of the dams ever consider the salmon that never
get started up the river because they have eaten by seals
at the mouth? I live near the Klamath River and it doesn’t
look like it’s dying or even sick!"