Record Crowd Expected for Klamath Falls Congressional Hearing
By Pat Taylor
CNSNews.com Correspondent
June 14, 2001

(CNSNews.com) - The largest crowd ever to attend a House Resources Committee hearing is expected to gather in Klamath Falls, Oregon, on Saturday, June 16. But apparently not one of the 24 Democrats on the committee is planning to attend.

The purpose of the hearing is to examine the water crisis and the disastrous effects that the Endangered Species Act is having on communities like those in the Klamath Basin, which straddles the California-Oregon state line.

The hearing was scheduled in response to a huge "bucket brigade" rally that took place in Klamath Falls on May 7 to protest the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's announcement that no water would be made available this year to irrigate the crops of the basin's 1,400 family farms.

Instead of going into farmers' fields, the water once earmarked for irrigation will be used to sustain "critical" or protected habitat for some "endangered" sucker fish and "threatened" salmon.

The Bureau decided to divert water to sucker fish and salmon, after environmental activists filed "citizen" lawsuits under a provision of the ESA. This resulted in a court decision that the rights of the fish take
precedence over the farmers' century-old water rights.

It took almost one full month to schedule a date for the congressional hearing in Klamath Falls, said Jeff Eager, a spokesperson for Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), whose office is coordinating the trip.

It was hoped that committee members from the Eastern states, most of whom are Democrats, would be able to make the trip to see first-hand how devastating the effects of the ESA can be on rural communities. But as of Wednesday, according to Eager, "no Democrats have shown an interest up to this point."

A spokesperson for Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.V.), the committee's ranking Democrat, confirmed that nobody from that side of the aisle is planning to go to Klamath Falls for the hearing.

Eager said at least six Republican committee members will make the trip, including Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.), who chairs an ESA Working Group that was set up several months ago to consider possible reform of the ESA.

Pombo will chair Saturday's field hearing, which is expected to draw between 6,000 and 8,000 people. Eager said that will be "by far" the largest turnout ever for a House Resources Committee hearing, and it may even set a record for attendance at any congressional hearing.

The hearing originally was scheduled to be held in a 700-seat theater, but the location had to be moved to an indoor arena at the state fairgrounds to accommodate the anticipated crowd.

Approximately a dozen witnesses will be allowed to speak and take questions from committee members. The Interior Department is sending Deputy Chief of Staff Sue Ellen Wooldridge to testify.

The Interior Department houses both the Bureau of Reclamation and the Fish and Wildlife Service, which originally declared the sucker fish to be "endangered" and produced the original scientific "biological opinion" that determined the "critical habitat" requirements of the sucker fish.

In addition to the witnesses, Eager said written comments will be accepted for inclusion in the official Congressional Record. According to Lynan Baghott, one of the basin's many citizens who have been volunteering countless hours fighting to save their businesses and their communities, a huge effort is being made not only to get people to the hearing, but also to collect as many written comments as possible.

"We need to impress on Congress that the Endangered Species Act needs to be changed," said Baghott.

President Bush already has asked Congress to approve $20 million in emergency funds for the area. Klamath Basin farmers say financial aid might help them make it through this summer, but without a long-term water supply, their farms and communities will cease to exist.

That, many people believe, is exactly what the environmental activists want.

Klamath Basin Crisis Update
Press Release
From: North American Research
June 15, 2001
Courts decision to cut off the water based on flawed report ?
"Hardy Flow Report" Flawed. " We used some incorrect data",
says the Research Engineer in charge of compiling the data.
"In a subsequent interview, when questioned specifically about the Hardy Flow Report Ludlow stated, "There were problems. We used some incorrect data and that is being looked at now." When asked, if it changes the report, Ludlow responded, "Yes, it very well could." "We have to turn it over to the justice department." to coordinate the efforts of "Hardy" on the river flow / Coho issue." See Whole Press Release
Other News:
7000 expected at the Congressional Hearing in Klamath Falls on Saturday
See more at http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org

http://www.capitolalert.com/news/capalert06.html
Interior official questions decision on Klamath water
By Stuart Leavenworth
Bee Staff Writer
(Published June 15, 2001)
A top Interior Department official Thursday questioned the science behind a decision not to deliver federal water to farmers in the drought-stricken Klamath basin this summer.
Sue Ellen Wooldridge, deputy chief of staff for Interior Secretary Gale Norton, said that federal studies of endangered salmon and lake fish in the basin "lack credibility" and will be scrutinized whenever any future water decisions are made by the Interior Department and its agencies.
Wooldridge's comments drew immediate fire from fisheries advocates, coming two days before she testifies to a congressional panel in Klamath Falls, Ore., that is investigating the water squabble.
On April 6, federal officials cut off irrigation supplies to save water for threatened lake fish and salmon, angering hundreds of farmers and their supporters on both sides of the Oregon-California border.
Wooldridge, a Sacramento attorney before joining the Interior Department, said the new administration was legally obligated to go along with the water cutoff, given findings by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service that the fish could be jeopardized. But she said future studies would be closely peer-reviewed, a message she plans to bring to Klamath Falls on Saturday.
"For many people, the underlying science which supports the decision by the fisheries agencies ... lacks credibility," Wooldridge said in an interview with The Bee on Thursday. "When you make decisions that have such severe impacts on a community, it is extremely important the federal government makes sure its decisions are unassailable."
Composed of wildlife refuges, farm towns and 230,000 acres of irrigation agriculture in the high desert, the Klamath Basin is no stranger to water fights. The Klamath Tribes and various environmental groups have long accused the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation of helping farmers at the expense of fisheries, but it wasn't until this year that things came to a head.
On April 3, a federal judge ruled that reclamation officials had violated the Endangered Species Act by not consulting with other agencies about how its operations might reduce flows and hurt coho salmon in the Klamath River.
Also this year, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a biological opinion that concluded that two endangered suckers in Upper Klamath Lake could suffer if lake levels weren't maintained by reducing water deliveries to farmers.
Wooldridge said the Interior Department has questions about both findings, but particularly the one that links lake levels to the health of the sucker fish.
"One piece of information that is difficult to deal with is that you can have fish kills when the lake is high and not necessarily when the lake is low," said Wooldridge, repeating a complaint often heard in the basin.
Fish and Wildlife officials couldn't be reached Thursday, but a spokesman for the Klamath Tribes took issue with Wooldridge’s remarks.
Bud Ullman, a lawyer for the tribes, said 15 years of studies have linked fish declines to water levels in the lake, a shallow body that turns green in the summer from algae, excess nutrients and little wind to mix the water.
"It's not surprising that in a shallow lake, when you have less water, you are going to have more nutrients and less oxygen," Ullman said. Lack of wind can contribute to algae blooms and fish kills at other times, he added, but not to the extent when lake levels are low.
Wendell Wood, an activist with the Oregon Natural Resources Council, also said he was disappointed with Wooldridge's comments. Recently, Wood said, Wooldridge had met with environmentalists and acknowledged that water had been over-allocated in the basin.
"It is certainly disturbing," said Wood. "We need to get past the finger-pointing and look for solutions."
Wooldridge will be one of several people testifying Saturday in Klamath Falls at a House Committee on Resources hearing organized by U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, and Oregon Republican. He and other members of Congress are seeking $20 million in emergency aide for Klamath farmers, a request many environmentalists support.
Wooldridge was in Sacramento on Thursday for a status meeting on Cal-Fed, an $8.5 billion program designed to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and avoid endangered species "train wrecks" like the one in the Klamath Basin.
The program faces lawsuits and other hurdles, but Thursday, Gov. Gray Davis announced $54.8 million in Cal-Fed loans and grants to help fund groundwater management, conservation projects and other programs across the state. Davis said that Cal-Fed "has the balanced set of solutions that California needs to secure its water supply in the future."
So far, the Bush administration is supporting Cal-Fed. Bush has included $20 million in his proposed budget for the program -- less than what Cal-Fed supporters had hoped for but more than they received last year.
"One reason we like it is because everyone seems to be angry at it," said Wooldridge, who is Norton's liaison on water issues. "That must mean it is a good program."
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