Posted on 12/21/2015 6:20:12 PM PST by george76
The agreement never sold well either in solidly Republican Klamath County or on the California side of the border, where the idea of removing dams and tilting the scale toward environmental and tribal purposes was regarded suspiciously.
"They try to say the community is for it, and it's not true at all," said Klamath County Chairman Tom Mallams, noting that almost all successful candidates in the area run against the agreement.
...
Among western Republicans, the idea of removing the dams has been viewed with great suspicion, even though the aged structures are relatively small hydroelectric producers, aren't used for irrigation and have major fish-passage problems. PacifiCorp, which owns the dams, has agreed to remove them instead of going through the uncertainty and huge expense of relicensing them.
But congressional critics have long fretted that it could create a precedent for fulfilling environmentalist fantasies for widespread dam removal in the West.
...
A PacifiCorp official told the Capitol Press, an agricultural newspaper, that the company will now seek to relicense its dams. Conversely, WaterWatch, a Portland-based environmental group that never supported the agreement, argues the dams can't be brought up to modern standards and that it hopes to force their removal through the federal regulatory process.
Meanwhile, Addington said irrigators will probably have to unleash their lawyers to go into court to fight the Klamath Tribes over water rights in the upper basin. The tribes won a 2013 ruling that they hold the superior water rights, but there are still avenues for appeal.
Don Gentry, the Klamath tribal chairman, agreed that more litigation looms.
(Excerpt) Read more at oregonlive.com ...
“Good times and good FRiends and memories were made.”
Indeed! 2000, Jarbidge, Nv. 2001, The Klamath Headgates. Some of the finest patriots I ever stood with were Freeper friends.
“Oregon’s lone Republican member of Congress, Greg Walden, wrote a bill that would give 100,000 acres of federal forest land to local counties to be managed for timber revenue. The legislation is designed to compensate Siskiyou County in California and Klamath County in Oregon for the loss of tax revenue from the dams.”
Walden is Ryan’s #1 guy and just voted for the horrid Obama/RNC budget.
Walden is head of the NRCC who is scamming Trump supporters to finance their RINO incumbents. Greg Walden is a big part of the corruption and problem of the RNC. During the Klamath crisis in 2001, he told all of us who tried to save that dam that we were ‘anit government types’....until he realized he wasn’t going to get reelected.
http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/2015/10/greg-walden-denies-nrcc-dirty-tricks.html
Here you can see a chart from Heritage with Walden’s conservative rating of 45...the worst of the bunch...even worse than Paul Ryan!
http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/2015/10/so-sick-of-rinos-wake-up-people.html
“What is seldom mentioned in all this blather is the way dam removal mobilizes toxic minerals and allows them to pollute the river. Public water supplies along the Rogue are a total mess because of it.”
Exactly. Walden sold out.
Please add me to your list.
Well, I worked hard with the farmers back during the intial crisis, both leading up to the “Stand,” and then through the entire “Stand.”
I wrote a book about it called “The Stand at Klamath Falls,” and it is available for free to anyone who wants to download the eBook at:
http://www.jeffhead.com/ebookdownload/
I tried to work with the farmers afterwards too...encouraging them not to join the “stakeholder” negotiations because they would surely end up losing once they allowed the environmentalists, fisheries, tribes, etc. to be placed on an equal footing with their water rights.
The reservoir was built for irrigation back in the day, and their water rights were sacrosanct.
I encouraged them to get good lawyers and press for having those head gates established as transferred works, with them owning them and operating them. They could easily have set up their Irrigation District to do it.
This transfer was what the Federal Government promised originally...and then squelched on it again and again. I felt after the win in 2001-2002, that they could have made that happen.
But too many wanted to negotiate. I respect their right to do that...we fought hard to get them in a position to be able to...I just felt that they ultimately would be betrayed again by the government...particularly once Bush left office.
And that is what is happening. Heck, it started before Bush left office when they tried to give some of the farmer’s water to everyone to make them all happy.
Oh well, everything comes around again...I hope they can once again retain their way of life and livelihood.
Jeff thanks for your leadership and service at the Klamath Falls/Basin dust up a long time ago and afterwards.
Thank you my friend. I spent a lot of time away from home for those months...and do not regret a bit of it.
I had friends who were hurting and they needed help.
My youngest son, who was 12 years old at the time, went over there with me several times once it had cooled down a bit.
A great real life experience for your son,
Thanks again and Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Yep.
Ah yes. Klamath Basin controversy. I remember that well.
Ah yes. Klamath Basin controversy. Fish v. farmers I remember that well.
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