Posted on 04/24/2002 9:14:42 PM PDT by Vigilant1
By Jeff Barnard Associated Press Writer
Published: Apr 25, 2002
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) - Arguing that fishermen have as much right to water as farmers, commercial anglers filed a lawsuit Wednesday demanding the federal government release more water to the Klamath River.
The lawsuit claims the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is "playing fast and loose with the Endangered Species Act," and seeks a federal court order requiring that water being stored for farmers be released to help young salmon migrate to the ocean.
"Fishermen deserve a fair share of water in the river just as much as farmers deserve water in the fields," said Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
During a drought last year, the Bureau of Reclamation sharply cut back irrigation to maintain water levels set under the Endangered Species Act for endangered suckers in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River.
This year the Bush administration has promised to do all it can to ensure Klamath Reclamation Project farmers get the water they need.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The bureau has begun full irrigation deliveries to the 1,400 farms on the Klamath Reclamation Project, which straddles the Oregon-California state line east of the Cascade Range.
Spain said the extra water for fish should not affect irrigation for farmers, but farmers disagreed.
Dan Keppen of the Klamath Water Users' Association estimated more water for salmon would use about 60,000 acre feet of water from reserves needed to meet the government's commitment to 400,000 acre feet for irrigation.
Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Jeff McCracken said attorneys had not reviewed the lawsuit and declined comment on the allegations.
Jim Lecky, assistant regional director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, was out of the office and did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.
AP-ES-04-24-02 2359EDT
Question: I know that the farmers pay for the water. Do the fishermen? If not then the argument is invalid.
a.cricket
Guess they haven't heard that the farmers own the water.
Glen Spain is a lawyer operating out of the Presidio in San Francisco, right down the hall from Gorbachev's Green Cross International. Spain has made a career out of these sweetheart suits "against" NMFS and is trying to corner the fishing business in the entire Pacific. It was he who was behind the steelhead and coho listings as funded by Pew Charitable Trusts (Sunoco, oil money). They are after water and hydro-power and don't give a dam for the fish. The coho in the Southern ESU is under appeal for delisting because the data have proven fraudulent. The data for the steelhead listing as Threatened were a total joke. This man is a crook.
If I remember correctly from last year's articles, Glen Spain is an enviro-whaco lawyer, not a commercial fisherman, and the PCFFA has no connection to or endorsement from any commercial fishermen. So how does such a scumbag get to claim legal standing to sue over water and land to which he has no legitimate interest?
If I remember correctly from last year's articles, Glen Spain is an enviro-whaco lawyer, not a commercial fisherman, and the PCFFA has no connection to or endorsement from any commercial fishermen. So how does such a scumbag get to claim legal standing to sue over water and land to which he has no legitimate interest?
Stands to reason.
That is the way I see it also.
However the government is interfering with the natural migration of salmon and upsetting the ecosystem.
"Fishermen deserve a fair share of water in the river just as much as farmers deserve water in the fields,"
Question: I know that the farmers pay for the water. Do the fishermen? If not then the argument is invalid.
another cricket
So is your house. Should the farmers bear the exclusive burden to meet your demand for Natural on your behalf because you have already paved your piece of Nature? That is the essence of democratic takings.
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