At the Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair, I worked in a fair booth with other volunteers advocating AGAINST dam removal and the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA).

The KBRA sets up the “Klamath Basin Coordinating Council” (KBCC), composed of five government agencies, three tribes and two environmentalist groups – 10 out of 18 members who support the 2001 and 2010 Klamath Basin water shortages. Farmers – three votes. Klamath, Siskiyou, Del Norte, Humboldt and Fishermen – one vote each.

The “council’s” majority is a great concern, because of its unlimited decision making authority. Should “substantial climate change be determined by the Klamath Basin Coordinating Council to be manifest or reasonably likely to occur” (pg. 134 KBRA), then the whole KBRA can be “negotiated” by that same “council.”

The studies required by the dam removal agreement are being rushed to meet predetermined decisions. The New York Times stated when the agreements were signed in Salem, Ore., that, “Four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and Northern California will be removed under an agreement (KBRA and Dam Removal Agreements) … ” (Feb. 19, 2010).

Now is not the time for us to pontificate, we must be clear where Siskiyou County stands.

Voters will have only one chance to be heard. Thanks to the Siskiyou Water Users’ Association bringing Measure G to the ballot. Every vote counts this election time, even though it’s an advisory county measure.

You might ask why. The answer is simple: Our State Senator Aanasted went on a tour given by those who support dam removal and incorrectly thought until September 2009 that many people in Siskiyou support dam removal.