once again, the greens will stoop lower than their lowest low to push their agenda....:mad3:


Water report irks Westerners

Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Published 1/2/02



A report that racism against Indians and a lack of leadership are
preventing a resolution to a Western water war has
outraged many California and Oregon residents.
The report was authored by Oregon State University and the
University of California after the federal government cut off
irrigation water to hundreds of farmers in the Klamath valley to protect
the endangered sucker fish and coho salmon.
The report said there is a lack of "visionary leadership" to craft
a solution.
Angry farmers reacted to the water shutoff last summer by forcing
open the canal system on several occasions and federal
marshals were called in to guard the head gates. Crops and livestock
were lost and many farms went bankrupt.
The Klamath tribes view the fish as sacred gifts, and have banded
with environmental groups to keep the spigots to area
farms dry.
The draft report under review said there is an atmosphere of
"farmers vs. Indians" and that a strain of racism is running
"quietly beneath the surface."
Tribal members have reported being shunned or "treated badly" and
say fund raising for Indian events has dropped
dramatically.
Critics of the report, however, say racism is not a factor.
"In the West, it doesn't matter what color your skin is if you are
fighting over water," said one Westerner.
Dan Keppen, executive director of the Klamath Water Users
Association, said the racism charges have "generated a lot of
controversy and local folks don't share that view."
Mr. Keppen said the racism hype is seeded in one event that
occurred Dec. 1, when three men drove through Chiloquin,
Ore., home of the Klamath tribes offices, firing shotguns at street
signs and yelling "sucker lovers."
Mr. Keppen cited the timing of that incident just before the report
was released Dec. 19 as a factor in playing the race card.
"A lot of farmers are upset that is how this is being
characterized, but it's not race - it's a simple matter of having no
water
and seeing the family farms slip away from them," Mr. Keppen said.
The water shutoff cost more than 2,000 jobs, about 3.5 percent of
the area's total employment.
The Oregonian reported that farms lost about $71 million in revenue
without the water, and the loss to the regional economy
totaled about $134 million, about 3.2 percent of the total.
Opponents to farming say the land should be purchased by the state
or federal government and retired from agriculture.
Farmers say the solution has to be more flexible and revisions in the
Endangered Species Act considered.
"It seems there should be a way of taking care of the fish without
taking farm land out of production. At some point, if you
take enough land out of production, the water project is not feasible,"
Mr. Keppen said.
The water project was established by Congress to reclaim desert
land by constructing federal irrigation projects and
reservoirs so the land could be converted to agricultural use and made
available to homesteaders. The government gave
preferential treatment to veterans, and the area was settled primarily
by World War I and World War II veterans.
Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton allowed a limited water release
earlier this summer, but the farmers quickly exhausted the
short supply in replenishing scorched fields and pastures.
Environmentalists filed a lawsuit to block the limited supply from
going to farmers at all, and said the water should instead
travel downstream to a wildlife refuge containing endangered birds.
Historically, farmers have not taken all of the water and have
allowed a sizable amount to pass on to the refuge. Despite one
of the worst droughts on record, the farmers continued to share their
limited release with the reserve.

Copyright © 2001 News World Communications,
Inc. All rights reserved.



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