A federal lawsuit that could
determine access to water in the Klamath Basin this summer
has taken a new turn as parties argue whether the Klamath
Tribes should post a $50 million bond to protect irrigators.
According to parties
intervening in the suit, at least $50 million is needed to
cover financial losses for agricultural producers who would
lose access to water if the court rules in the Tribes’
favor.
The Tribes said such an
amount far exceeds the funds they have budgeted for the
lawsuit and, if they are required to post the bond, they
would be forced to abandon their efforts.
“The present litigation has
already placed a strain on the Klamath Tribes’ 2018 and 2019
budgets,” said Tribal Chairman Don Gentry and Tribal
Treasurer Brandi Hatcher in a statement to the court July
10. “The Klamath Tribes believe conserving the sacred C’waam
(Lost River sucker) and Koptu (shortnose sucker) warrants
the investment and is in the interest of our members as well
as the public generally, but we are simply unable to make
significant additional expenditures toward this effort
beyond budgeted litigation.”
The Tribes sued the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) May 23, claiming BOR needed to
allow higher levels of water in Upper Klamath Lake to
prevent an extinction-level die-off of endangered
suckerfish. The tribes cited an expected drought this
summer, following an exceptionally dry and warm winter.
On May 29, the Tribes filed a
motion for a preliminary injunction directing BOR to
maintain lake levels at a minimum required to ensure fish
survival. A hearing was scheduled for July 11 to consider
the injunction, but has since been re-scheduled for this
Friday in San Francisco before Judge William Orrick.
Multiple parties have
intervened in the suit to voice their opposition, including
Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA), Sunnyside Irrigation
District (SID) and irrigators filing as individuals. In a
June 27 objection to the injunction, KWUA and SID said the
Tribes are required by federal law to put forward financial
security to cover losses incurred as a result of the
injunction.
They said the annual crop
value of irrigators within the Klamath Project was reported
at $169 million in 2016. Based on these figures and expected
impact of the injunction, KWUA and SID said a conservative
estimate for a bond to cover irrigators losses would be $50
million.
“Although not sufficient to
make Project water users whole, an amount on this order
would at least provide a degree of assistance for many
Project farmers to resume operation in post-injunction
years,” said the objection. “Intervenors recognize that in
this type of case a bond is rare. However, plaintiff chose
to seek a remedy at a time that would inflict the worst
possible damage on the agricultural community.”
Irrigators have further
argued the suckerfish are unlikely to suffer losses as great
as those described by the Tribes and an injunction is
unnecessary. The Tribes argue they will suffer irreversible
losses if the injunction is not granted, saying the
suckerfish are “at imminent risk of a catastrophic die-off.”
