News Service June 19, 2001

Glimmer of Hope for Endangered Farmers 
and Their Communities

By Pat Taylor
CNSNews.com Correspondent
June 18, 2001

(CNSNews.com) - Devastated farmers and communities in the Klamath Basin of
Oregon and California got a glimmer of hope from last Saturday's House
Resources Committee field hearing in Klamath Falls, Ore.

A top Interior Department official has promised an independent review of a
scientist's recommendations that led to the diversion of irrigation water
from an Oregon lake to protect endangered fish.

"We feel we were able to thoroughly expose the bad science that brought
about this crisis," said Jim Russell, president of the Klamath Water Users
Association.

"It gave the congressmen a good sense of just how wrong it was to rely
solely on [one scientist's "Biological Opinions"]. It became very clear that
the Endangered Species Act (ESA) must be changed, so what has happened to us
doesn't happen elsewhere," Russell said.

Interior Department Deputy Chief of Staff Sue Ellen Wooldridge promised the
congressmen that the science upon which the Biological Opinions are based
will be subjected to independent scientific peer review, as the Klamath
Basin farmers have long requested.

Such peer review is not mandated by the ESA, which has been one of the major
criticisms of the act, both in the Klamath Basin and elsewhere.

The Interior Department houses both the Bureau of Reclamation and the Fish
and Wildlife Service (FWS), which declared the sucker fish to be endangered
and designated critical habitat for it based on the "Biological Opinions" to
which Russell referred.

That, in turn, led to a series of "citizen" lawsuits, filed by environmental
activists and paid for by American taxpayers, that forced the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation to divert virtually all of the irrigation water from the Upper
Klamath Lake to protect critical or protected habitat for the fish.

As a result, the once-fertile croplands are turning to dust, and the area's
once-thriving rural communities are dying.

Wooldridge did not say what would result if the peer reviews determine that
the bureau's action in withholding irrigation water was based on faulty
science, as the agriculture community contends.

But she did promise that when plans are developed for future years, "the FWS
will fully review the existing scientific data and seek appropriate public
comment and peer review."

The six-hour hearing drew a crowd officially estimated at upwards of 3,000
people.

Although that number was about half of what was expected, it was still by
far the largest crowd in recent memory to attend a House Resources Committee
hearing and possibly the largest ever, according to Jeff Eager, spokesperson
for Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.).

Like a crowd of between 15,000 and 20,000 that gathered early last month for
a "bucket brigade" protest rally, Saturday's crowd was orderly and totally
non-violent.

Russell said the most disturbing testimony at the hearing came from
spokesmen for the area's Indian tribes, the Klamath Tribes and the Yurok
Tribe, who basically claimed that all the water and land belongs to them.

In other testimony, Andy Kerr of the Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC)
proposed that American taxpayers fork over untold billions of dollars as
"the first step" to essentially eliminate commercial farming not only from
the area affected by the current crisis, but also from surrounding areas.

The ONRC plan calls for paying $4,000 per acre to "willing sellers" of
farmland in the Klamath Irrigation Project area.

In addition, a federal fund of $100 billion would be established to buy land
and water rights in the Upper Klamath River Watershed in Oregon and the
Scott and Shasta Valleys of California.

Additional federal funds would reimburse local governments for lost tax
revenues and provide grants to assist area communities.

The ONRC's plan was endorsed by 28 environmental activist organizations,
including nine Audubon Society chapters, the radical Tucson-based Center for
Biological Diversity, and the Endangered Species Coalition, which is headed
by Earthjustice (formerly the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund) and the
Defenders of Wildlife.

These are the same organizations that brought the lawsuits that forced the
Bureau of Reclamation to withhold irrigation water from the farmers.

The plan was not well received by the crowd or the congressmen.

"If the federal government is going to spend billions of dollars, it should
be spent keeping the government's promise to the farmers [for irrigation
water] rather than buying out land from 'willing sellers' with a noose
around their neck," said Walden.

In addition to Walden, three members of the House Resources Committee, all
Republicans, attended the hearing: Richard Pombo of California, Mike Simpson
of Idaho, and Jim Gibbons of Nevada.

Two additional Republican congressmen, Wally Herger of California and Doc
Hastings of Washington were in attendance. No Democrats showed up.

Walden will be going to the House floor sometime this week to share the
hearing's findings with other House members.

Eager said that in addition to the 14 witnesses who spoke during the
hearing, two huge boxes of written comments were brought back to Washington
for inclusion in the Congressional Record.

According to Eager, the next order of business is to ensure the $20 million
in financial aid that President Bush requested for the Klamath Basin is
approved this week.

After that, the focus will turn to long-term solutions. That includes
determining how the Klamath Basin disaster can contribute to reform of the
Endangered Species Act.