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Governors Schwarzenegger and Kulongoski Direct State Agencies to Hold a Klamath Summit
Gov. Schwarzenegger's Office ^ | October 12, 2006 | Press Release

Posted on 10/12/2006 9:18:57 PM PDT by calcowgirl

California Governor Schwarzenegger and Oregon Governor Kulongoski today directed their respective state agencies to organize a Klamath Summit to be held before the year ends. The governors have joined forces and are holding the summit to resolve a multitude of complex issues related to the health of the river that impact salmon fishermen, tribes, hydroelectric power and a host of environmental and habitat concerns.

“We have the problems of water quality, water supply, listed species, energy generation, and agricultural sustainability expressed in countless ways in the Klamath Basin,” Governor Kulongoski said. “We must forge a consensus on a sustainable approach to the Klamath.”

“Both our states are recognized leaders in protecting our environment,” added Schwarzenegger. “I look forward to working with Governor Kulongoski and his team to develop a plan that will protect these valuable natural resources while balancing our needs as responsible stewards of the environment.”

The summit follows a partnership between Washington, Oregon and California that was announced on Sept. 18 during California and the World Ocean ’06 in Long Beach, Calif. the three governors signed an agreement to create a partnership that would work to protect the entire Pacific coast. Organizing and holding the summit fulfills a part of that agreement.

Last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a Draft Environmental Impact Report that would allow several dams along the Klamath to be relicensed if certain environmental conditions were met. It estimated that the PacifiCorp hydroelectric project would operate at an annual loss of $27 million if fish ladders were installed. At the same time, the decision of an administrative law judge, acting in a new trial-type proceeding under the 2005 Energy Policy Act, ruled that fish ladders would have to be installed on Klamath River dams, suggesting that PacifiCorp will now have to decide between installing fish ladders or decommissioning dams.

The Governors of Oregon and California well recognize the environmental and natural resource challenges within the Klamath Basin. The summit will bring all groups with Klamath River Basin interests together, states, federal partners, fishermen, Tribes, PacifiCorp and other groups to resolve issues and return the Klamath River Basin to health.

To date, resolving Klamath issues has been a challenge because of the interconnected nature of water, energy, fishing, wildlife habitat, tribal land use and farming needs. PacifiCorp is currently seeking relicensing of its Hydro Project on the Klamath River, while many parties are calling for dam removal and river restoration. At the same time, commercial salmon catch in California and Oregon is expected to drop this year from recent averages, the state and federal lawmakers said in a recent letter to Senate appropriators.

Both Governors have been signatories to letters requesting Congressional relief for west coast commercial fisheries. And Governor Kulongoski has previously extended an invitation to federal agency heads to participate in a Klamath Summit. The joint announcement with Governor Schwarzenegger sets that plan in motion, and expands the Summit invitation focus to include members of Congress who share their concern over the lack of meaningful progress.

“We believe there is an important role for the federal government to play in crafting a long term solution to these challenges,” Governor Schwarzenegger said. “It is appropriate that the Federal agencies and Congress take an active role shaping a sustainable approach to protecting these vital resources.”

In more recent communications to Governor Kulongoski, the Secretaries of Interior and Commerce have voiced their support and commitment to resolving Klamath Basin issues, and in a Klamath summit.

To ensure that the Klamath Summit produces results, the Governors expect interested stakeholders to come prepared to present and discuss specific concepts and proposals, including possible legislative solutions. In advance of the summit, stakeholders will work to identify and prioritize issues and where possible, outline areas of agreement and disagreement, if meaningful progress is to be made.

PacifiCorp operates seven hydroelectric generating facilities along 65 miles of the Klamath River from the Link River Dam at Upper Klamath Lake to Iron Gate Dam. Recently, PacifiCorp has expressed their willingness to consider dam removal, provided that shareholder property rights and cost recovery issues are appropriately addressed.

In recent testimony before the California Public Utilities Commission, PacifiCorp noted that during the past 100 years, circumstances in the Klamath Basin have changed dramatically, impacted by Endangered Species Act requirements, Tribal Trust requirements, and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation water management policies.

According to PacifiCorp, “these and other restrictions cause PacifiCorp to operate the Klamath Hydroelectric Project more for compliance than for generation. Making matters worse, return flow from the Klamath customers is unpredictable, unmanaged, and often occurs during high-water periods. Each of these factors has negative effects on PacifiCorp’s ability to use the Klamath River to generate hydroelectric power.” The testimony continues, “The result at best; PacifiCorp must adjust generation schedules to maintain system balance, compliance with ramp rates, reservoir elevation commitments, and downstream minimum flow requirements; at worst, PacifiCorp must spill water throughout its system and incur risk management costs; and, in no event can PacifiCorp rely on flow from the Klamath Irrigation Project when it schedules generation.”

“In light of PacifiCorp’s characterization of the value, it seems only appropriate that dam removal be explored as part of the discussion and quite frankly, as part of the eventual solution to restore Klamath River health,” said Schwarzenegger.

A date for the Summit will be determined once various schedules can be worked out.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; US: California; US: Oregon
KEYWORDS: dams; environment; infrastructure; klamath; klamathbasincrisis; kulongoski; propertyrrights; schwarzenegger; water
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To: calcowgirl; Jeff Head
Why... how'd you know I'm wearin a short sleaved shirt? My sense of humor is being seriously challenged by what I'm seeing in this thread, I must tell you. I well remember the cause FReepers championed along with the locals in Klamath Falls.

Oh rats! I forgot to ping Jeff Head!!!

21 posted on 10/12/2006 10:39:25 PM PDT by SierraWasp (To be fair, Bill Clinton did more than any other President to protect us from the Branch Davidians!)
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To: calcowgirl

Well, at least I'm not fighting for the right to arm bears!!!


22 posted on 10/12/2006 10:46:12 PM PDT by SierraWasp (To be fair, Bill Clinton did more than any other President to protect us from the Branch Davidians!)
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To: calcowgirl; Jeff Head; SierraWasp; Grampa Dave; marsh2; forester
These dams have been on the Klamath for well over 50 years and it's only been the last 10 or so that the salmon stocks have suffered. Over fishing is the biggest problem for the fish and that started over 100 years ago when there was at least one very large Salmon cannery at the mouth and the "fishermen" delivered 100s of tons of fish for processing.

Then a few years ago foreign fishing was allowed outside the 3 mile limit and everything that came up in the miles long nets were processed on the large cannery boats that attended the fishing fleets. These hauls included the salmon.

There is a third proposal the power company had and that was a fish hatchery but the judges ruling side tracked that.

23 posted on 10/12/2006 10:50:49 PM PDT by tubebender (Growing old is mandatory...Growing up is optional)
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To: SierraWasp
That is really the no-kidding and righteous actual Communist News Sorce

you betcha! It doesn't get much more RED than that, and I mean RED in a traditional sense.

If the people that populate FR won't stand strong against this preverted altruism while calling themselves "conservatives," then all is lost as far as I'm concerned and I'll hang my head in shame for having hung with you all!!!

I'm with ya in standing strong, SW... don't go hangin that head in shame just yet. The war ain't even started yet!

24 posted on 10/12/2006 11:03:15 PM PDT by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: Iconoclast2
The Klamath has been on its way down for many years and I resent it that you think that the "Indians" are the problem. Your statement sucks for more than one reason. First, you can not run boats around on the surface of the river and "herd salmon" down below. That is false and stupid. You may have seen some Indians hot rodding around but they were not "herding" fish. Second, it matters not that you may have seen a few Indians catching more than their share. The fact is that we (I am a Yurok born and raised there, matter of fact if you were on the beach at the mouth of the river you were on my land. Not the tribes, I mean MY land. I and my family own that sand spit.) have a quota and no matter what Indian catches how many fish, when the quota is met we are through for the year, and the river is shut down to us.

You better do a little better home work next time you want to take up a subject. If you have any questions I will try to answer them for you. Also in your previous post: where can you buy fresh west coast Chinook or Silver salmon for $4.99 a pound. That my friend is impossible. That died red Atlantic salmon is going for $6 to $10 a lb. in the stores I saw it in and there was NO local salmon at all to be found.

25 posted on 10/13/2006 12:42:06 AM PDT by fish hawk
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To: tubebender
Ain't that the truth, Tube! Along with the Dams we have had Gold mining, clear cut timber cutting, sport and commercial fishing (once, commercial on the river itself)and of course Indian netting (which, as an Indian, am against Indian commercial fishing. Originally it was for subsistence only.) And all that not counting things like the large salmon kill from, what ever the hell it was, a few years back where we lost tens of thousands of salmon. Personally I think someone upriver was expecting a raid and dumped all their "meth lab" into the river.
26 posted on 10/13/2006 12:53:22 AM PDT by fish hawk
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To: fish hawk
Personally I think someone upriver was expecting a raid and dumped all their "meth lab" into the river.

You may be right on that... that sh*t is all over the place in those parts...

27 posted on 10/13/2006 3:14:51 AM PDT by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: calcowgirl
From the vault of old memories:

KlamathBasinCrisis

To find all articles tagged or indexed using KlamathBasinCrisis, click below:
  click here >>> KlamathBasinCrisis <<< click here  
(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)

28 posted on 10/13/2006 3:18:13 AM PDT by backhoe (A Nuke for every Kook- what a Clinton "legacy...")
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To: Iconoclast2
No one mentions the Tribes herding the salmon into gillnets with powerboats at the narrow mouth of the river; a few years ago, they were harvesting more than half the returning fall chinook. This subject has more lies printed about it than any other environmental issue on the West Coast, as far as I can tell.

That's an outrage and a typical scam by our "sovereign nation" gangs and mafias, same ones who run their Indian casinos.
They sell (market) these salmon or kill them for fun??? I sure as heck know there aren't enough real Indians to eat them all.

29 posted on 10/13/2006 3:24:58 AM PDT by dennisw (Confucius say man who go through turnstile sideways going to Bangkok)
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To: SierraWasp; calcowgirl

"“We must forge a consensus on a sustainable approach..."

Translation: We will illegally meet behind closed doors and determine what the end result of these meetings will be. Then we will ram through our leftist agenda at public meetings by isolating and attacking critics and violating and ignoring the open meetings laws.

I'm not familiar with the open meetings laws in that part of the country, but I'd recommend you folks look into the law.

In my part of the country, we had the eco-fascists and the usual gang of profiteers trying to ram through ecological zoning in the county. From the get-go the meeting violated several clauses of our open meetings law. Before the meeting was two minutes old we got up and threatened the organizers with a civil suit for violating the law, and then we assured them that we'd be seeking criminal charges against the organizers. (They were repeat offenders and our open meetings law stipulates criminal charges for multiple violations.)

The green gang got real quiet and the meeting dissolved real fast. We assured them that next time they tried to pull that crap we wouldn't warn them. Instead, we would call the sheriff to shut the meeting down, and then we would seek criminal charges against the organizers.

I would further recommend you buy the local county sheriff and his deputies lots of doughnuts and get them on your side.

Good luck at the meeting.


30 posted on 10/13/2006 4:55:40 AM PDT by sergeantdave (Consider that nearly half the people you pass on the street meet Lenin's definition of useful idiot)
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To: SierraWasp

I am going to vote for the good republicans and let Arnold do it on his own. No need for my vote, he will still win because he has half the Democrats thinking he is too liberal, but they will vote for him.


31 posted on 10/13/2006 6:04:06 AM PDT by Paloma_55 (I may be a hateful bigot, but I still love you)
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To: fish hawk

That $4.99 a pound caught my eye too. I was about to ask for directions.

The offshore Russian fishing fleet really clobbered our fish stock, but that ended years ago. I was very incensed to have russian trawlers cleaning out our salmon and harrasing the tanker I was navigating. 1970's


32 posted on 10/13/2006 9:11:17 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: Salvation

These guys are up to no good!


33 posted on 10/13/2006 10:48:25 AM PDT by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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To: abbi_normal_2; adam_az; Alamo-Girl; Alas; alfons; alphadog; AMDG&BVMH; amom; AndreaZingg; ...
Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

updated List of Ping lists vol.III(Get Your Fresh Hot Pings Here!)


34 posted on 10/13/2006 12:03:57 PM PDT by freepatriot32 (Holding you head high & voting Libertarian is better then holding your nose and voting republican)
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To: calcowgirl

Good idea. Let's replace the dams with nuclear power plants.


35 posted on 10/13/2006 12:39:06 PM PDT by mugs99 (Don't take life too seriously, you won't get out alive.)
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To: freepatriot32

BTTT


36 posted on 10/13/2006 12:43:53 PM PDT by E.G.C.
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To: fish hawk

Two or three weeks ago, our local Safeway stores (Portland) were selling what they called "wild coho" for $4.99/lb., which I noticed because the prices have been generally higher all summer. I presume it came off the West Coast . . . are there coho down in Chile? That would be the only other source I could think of.


37 posted on 10/13/2006 12:53:12 PM PDT by Iconoclast2 (Two wings of the same bird of prey . . .)
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To: fish hawk

And I don't "think that the 'Indians' are THE problem". They plainly overfished fall chinook for a while; now the harvests are reduced. The Klamath salmon runs were on the rise for many years, and are down the last couple. Suction dredge mining on the river probably helps them by increasing available spawning and other habitat. The people who drive the boats think they are herding the salmon into the nets, and I presume they do it because it works. Maybe not. I have seen videos of it.

The real problem is that "the Indians", loosely speaking, have been exploited by a bunch of lying environmentalists and corrupt Tribal leaders who have set them at odds with the Klamath farmers who, as a practical matter, have absolutely zero effect on the lives of the Indians. More people ought to listen to Russell Means as to the real nature of the enemy:

http://www.geocities.com/robertofotografie/


38 posted on 10/13/2006 1:10:32 PM PDT by Iconoclast2 (Two wings of the same bird of prey . . .)
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To: SierraWasp
The property owner with inalienable and self-evidident property rights that has the rightful control of all his property and accompanying water rights wrested away from him by federal, state, local, or any other governmental entity is being denied one of the most fundamental and elementary reasons this nation was founded in 1776!!!

This right ranks right up there with freedom of speech, religion and the right to keep and bare arms to defend said property and it's inherint rights!!! What this Governor has suggested in this statement is blatantly UN-American in every respect!!!

I didn't coin this perception, but when property rights go, along go the rest of your rights.

Individual rights are being trampled. Corporate rights are being trampled.

About the only way to stop this nonsense, is to shrink government until it hasn't the staff to dabble it's fingers into everyone's business. And while we're at it, the land conservencies and NGOs should be defunded, liquidated and the land sold off to "INDIVIDUALS". These massive land conservancies operate like drunken sailors who answer to no one.

The left hates corporations, unless those corporations are buying up land with government funds so that private people can't.

39 posted on 10/13/2006 1:52:13 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Victory will never be achieved while defining Conservatism downward, and forsaking it's heritage.)
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To: mugs99; Grampa Dave; Jeff Head; Carry_Okie; Issaquahking; NormsRevenge; tubebender; hedgetrimmer; ..
Yeah, right! You probably are part of the croud that wants to run the potato farmers off so's you and your friends can change the crop to marijuana hemp for so-called "medical marijuana!"

Hey! We pulled you guys covers clear back there in the summer of 2001. You're not foolin anyone with that nuclear bit. It's been your anti-nuclear hippies that have been queering nuclear power in CA for decades.

So go back to bein the "hippie-dippie weatherman" pushin that supposed medicinal dope and quit backin the lefties that are tryin to take the water away from the Klamath Falls farmers who have paid for it many times over by reimbursing the Federal Bureau that helped them build the Upper Klamath Reservoir!!!

I know, you love Schwartzenegger's Sierra-Nevada CONservancy, too. You and I've been over that assinine action by the goofed-up Governator, too!!!

40 posted on 10/13/2006 3:00:48 PM PDT by SierraWasp (To be fair, Bill Clinton did more than any other President to protect us from the Branch Davidians!)
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