http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2003/12/16/viewpoints/letters/letters.txt

Letters to the editor

published Dec. 16, 2003

No commission at stake

I read with interest Dylan Darling's article "Sticker shock: Half a billion or more" in which the costs of the pro-spective Long Lake storage project were outlined. I wish to correct a point, and make one of my own.

It is true that I cast the only thumbs-down vote on a full-blown study of the proposed project at the Hatfield Upper Basin Working Group meeting. The comments attributed to me are correct, and I stand by them. Long Lake will never be built, and to add to the $350,000 already being spent on geo-technical studies is yet a further waste of the taxpayer's money. 

Bob Gasser was quoted in the article as saying that I personally do not want the Bureau of Reclamation to look at Long Lake because "he wouldn't get a commission," and, "it's a money thing for him."

If Gasser and the Klamath Water Users Association board had accepted any of the American Land Conservancy's numerous requests to meet, establish communication and seek common ground, such misunderstandings might have been avoided.

The former statement is patently untrue. I am not real estate broker, do not receive a commission and he knows it. The later statement of "it's a money thing for him" is a rather classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, a conclusion anyone familiar with Gasser's business would draw.

American Land Conservancy fully supports the study of any - repeat, any - prospective storage or demand-reduction projects that are practical, cost-effective and can be used to restore water quality and improve water supplies in the Basin.

Long Lake clearly does not meet that criteria. There are other options that do - Barnes Ranch and Swan Valley among them.

There are also some interesting options for water storage on Klamath Reclamation Project lands, and while no one discusses it, the Southwest Sump is an obvious place to store excess winter water.

Smoke and mirrors will not solve the water problems of the basin. Cost effective storage will.

Rich McIntyre

Ashland

 

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