From:  Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors
April 5, 2016

The Honorable Sally Jewell Secretary of the Interior
1849 C Street,
N.W. Washington. D.C. 20240

The Honorable Jerry Brown Governor of California
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: New Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement

Dear Secretary Jewell and Governor Brown:

We have just learned that a subset of parties to the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement which is an even smaller group than the significant stakeholders in the Klamath Watershed – intend to sign a new amendment to the hydroelectric agreement on April 6. It is sad and ironic that an agreement that started out to address fish and water supplies in the Upper Basin has degenerated into something where the main focus is the removal of four dams on the lower river and water supply reliability is unaddressed.

This attempt to breathe new life into the failed efforts of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement in a futile action in the last year of the Obama Administration is yet another misguided waste of time and resources for everyone with an interest in securing the future of water supplies, water quality, and sustainable fisheries in the Klamath Basin.

The lawsuits are already lined up and ready to define the next significant era of water/politics for the Klamath River. The ham-handed handling of this latest effort (with “secret” meetings, lack of transparency, and lack of authority, to name the most obvious examples) to force some parties’ one-and-only solution on the Klamath Basin has only provided even more gist for the legal battle that will come. The blatant violation of the federal Endangered Species Act and the potential extirpation of the coho salmon from the Klamath River is only the most egregious violation of federal law.

We urge you to rethink your course of action and to not let the intransigence of certain advocates condemn us to yet another wasted decade. Please do not sign yet another unauthorized and incomplete agreement to once again raise false hope that a real and lasting Klamath River fix is finally at hand when a real solution is still desperately needed.

Grace Bennett Chair, Board of Supervisors

Brandon Criss , District I

Ed Valenzuela, District 2

Michael Kobseff , District 3

Grace Bennett, District 4

Ray A. Haupt, District 5

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