[env-trinity] Fresno Bee Editorial on Klamath Power/Record Searchlight- Mountain snowpack levels melting away

[Tom Stokely]

KLAMATH:

Editorial: Costly cut-rate power; Klamath energy subsidy distorts economics of farming

Fresno Bee - 3/3/05

 

The West Coast's storm cycle hammered Southern California this winter but ended up missing Oregon. That has produced dry conditions that have set the stage for another farmers-vs.-fish drama on the Klamath River. 

 

On top of this looming fight over a limited water supply, a new debate is unfolding over electricity. This feud should be simpler to solve. Farmers - or any consumer, for that matter - should purchase electricity at 2005 prices, not those set in 1917.

 

Farmers throughout the Klamath basin have enjoyed the same rate for electricity since Woodrow Wilson was president. The going price is sixth-tenths of a cent per kilowatt of electricity. A Northern California farmer in the service territory of Pacific Gas and Electric, for a comparison, pays a rate that is about 20 times higher. 

 

PacifiCorp is proposing to raise the price tenfold. Still, the proposed price is a bargain compared with what many California farmers have to pay. And raising the price to reflect 2005 costs would bring a much-needed dose of economic forces to the debate.

 

If a marginal farming operation can only survive by keeping electricity prices frozen at 1917 levels, it's questionable whether it really should have the use of precious Klamath water. There is no choice but to use water efficiently for fish and farmers alike. Raising electricity prices to 2005 levels is one way to achieve that efficiency. #

http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/story/10057166p-10886321c.html

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WATER SUPPLY OUTLOOK: 

Mountain snowpack levels melting away

Redding Record Searchlight - 3/3/05

By Alex Brietler, staff writer

 

Surveyors have ventured into some of the north state's most rugged backcountry for the second time this winter, discovering a snowpack that has diminished to below average in some areas. 

 

Just one month ago, surveys revealed a thick blanket of snow up to 142 percent of normal. Now, the snowpack in some river basins has shrunk to about 90 percent. 

One exception was the McCloud River area, which measured a healthy 118 percent of average this month. 

 

Statewide, the numbers remain good. California already has more snow than it typically would at the beginning of April. 

 

The largest concern rests in the embattled Klamath River region in Northern California and southern Oregon. The snowpack there is just 43 percent of normal, painting a "pretty grim" picture for the coming agricultural season, said Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman Rae Olsen. 

She noted that March has often been the basin's wettest month. "Perhaps we will revert to that pattern," she said. 

 

Snow certainly doesn't seem to be a problem on Mt. Shasta, where at least 320 inches of powder -- nearly 27 feet -- has dropped since fall. 

 

The most recent dumping came early Wednesday, when 8 inches of snow topped the mountain. The new flakes prompted the U.S. Forest Service to warn of considerable avalanche danger on Shasta's slopes. 

 

New snow falling in Trinity County earlier this week prevented snow surveyors from making their rounds there, a Forest Service official said. 

 

A variety of agencies and even private landowners like Pacific Gas and Electric Co. conduct snow surveys by skiing or snowshoeing into some remote basins, or using a helicopter to get to others. 

 

It's been an odd winter all over the West, with the Los Angeles area drowning in nearly 34 inches of precipitation. Normally sopping-wet Seattle has had just more than 16 inches, while Redding fits right in the middle, with 26.15 inches of precipitation to date. 

 

Back in the Klamath Basin, the Bureau of Reclamation recently extended an annual water bank in which farmers can voluntarily idle their land or use groundwater rather than taking water deliveries from snowmelt-fed Upper Klamath Lake. 

 

The extension gives more farmers a chance to participate this year, in light of the poor snowpack, Olsen said. 

 

Officials will receive one more weather report in the coming weeks, and will make a final decision about water allocations for irrigation by mid-April. 

 

Many Klamath farmers went without water in 2001 as the government protected sensitive fish in the lake and in the Klamath River downstream. American Indians, commercial and recreational fishermen, conservationists and farmers have been embroiled in a fierce battle for water ever since.  #

http://www.redding.com/redd/nw_local/article/0,2232,REDD_17533_3590759,00.html

 
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