[env-trinity] Hoopa Fights for Trinity River Restoration
TBedros765 at aol.com
TBedros765 at aol.com
Fri Oct 26 13:48:11 PDT 2007
Pasted and attached please find a press release and letter from the Hoopa
Valley Tribe. If you have questions, please contact me.
Thank you,
Tod Bedrosian
Bedrosian & Associates
835 Klein Way
Sacramento, CA 95831
(916)421-5121
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HOOPA VALLEY TRIBE TELLS CONGRESS TRINITY RIVER RESTORATION PROMISES MUST BE
KEPT BEFORE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER RESTORATION IS PASSED
Media Contacts: Clifford Lyle Marshall (530) 625-4211 ext. 161
Mike Orcutt (530) 625-4267 ext. 13
Tod Bedrosian (916) 421-5121
Hoopa, Calif. – The Hoopa Valley Tribe of northern California has notified
Congressional and administration San Joaquin River restoration supporters of the
tribe’s concern the plan for the San Joaquin is fiscally gluttonous and could
drain restoration funds from the Trinity River, which bisects the Hoopa
Valley Reservation.
“They risk killing a living river and the fish in it if the San Joaquin
legislation (H.R. 24/S. 27) becomes a new consumer of California’s river
restoration funding,” said Hoopa Tribal Chairman Clifford Lyle Marshall. In an Oct. 23
letter, the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council asked 10 members of California's
congressional delegation (list at the bottom of this press release) to change the
funding mechanism for the San Joaquin River restoration and support legislation
authored by Rep. Mike Thompson (H.R. 2733) to ensure the promise of
restoration for the Trinity River.
In the letter, the tribe also notes federal funding shortfalls for the
restoration of the Trinity River are allowing fish habitat to worsen. “Our tribal
fishery is failing because of a collapse of the fish populations in the Klamath
and Trinity rivers,” noted Marshall.
The Hoopa Valley Tribal Council sent the letter to key members of Congress
saying, “We need your assistance to ensure that the Federal government’s prior
commitment and trust responsibility for Trinity restoration are not sacrificed
to the San Joaquin settlement.”
Since the San Joaquin settlement was first introduced in the fall of last
year, the tribe has said the legislation’s funding mechanism will be used by the
administration to divert restoration monies from the Trinity River restoration
program approved in December 2000. Congressional representatives,
environmental groups, water and power contractors in the Central Valley, and
administration officials have asked the Hoopa Valley Tribe not to oppose the San Joaquin
legislation. The tribe’s letter replies the tribe can only drop opposition to
the San Joaquin restoration if funding for the Trinity River restoration is
assured with legislation, H.R. 2733, authored by north coast Rep. Thompson and
co-sponsored by Rep. George Miller.
Marshall said the federal government betrayed its promises to restore the
Trinity River when administration officials refused to support H.R. 2733 during a
Sept. 18, House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on the bill. The tribe
supports H.R. 2733 as a way to bolster sagging federal restoration efforts on
the Trinity River.
“We support river restoration throughout California, but Congress must
recognize the San Joaquin restoration legislation could allow the Interior
Department to create a billion-dollar vortex that will suck up available restoration
funding for California rivers, including the Trinity,” said Marshall.
He said the Trinity River restoration project is under funded by $8 million
annually and is seven years behind schedule, according to estimates developed
this year by the Secretary of the Interior and the tribe. “Shifting limited
funds to San Joaquin will reduce funding for Trinity River restoration further,”
he said.
“Funding for the Trinity needs to be identified and confirmed now because
conditions have worsened for the Trinity and Klamath rivers fishery.” Marshall
said the Trinity River is the only tributary to the Klamath River producing
quantities of salmon available for local harvest. “If the Trinity River goes down,
so goes fishing for native people, sports fishermen and the commercial
fishing industry for 900 miles of the Northern California and Oregon coastline.
The San Joaquin will take decades to restore. Funding for the Trinity will
produce immediate returns on investment and immediate benefits to the coastal
communities that rely on the salmon.”
Marshall said the Hoopa Valley Tribe would like to continue talks with Sen.
Dianne Feinstein about restoration of the Trinity River. “The Senator has been
a friend to the Trinity River in the past. I think she is concerned that the
Bureau of Reclamation is only committing half of the money it should on the
government’s promise to restore the Trinity River. Congressman Thompson’s Bill
will fix the annual funding shortfall. We hope she will introduce the same
bill in the Senate.”
The federal government began diverting Trinity River waters to the Central
Valley in l964, but promised enough water would be retained for the river’s fish
and wildlife. Since then the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) has allowed up
to 90 percent of the river’s water to be diverted. In the l980’s Congress
recognized the diversion had caused an 80 percent reduction in salmon
populations. In 1992, the Central Valley Project Improvement Act was passed to create
funding for environmental restoration of California rivers harmed by commercial
water users. In 2000, a Record of Decision agreement signed by the Hoopa
Valley Tribe and the U.S. Department of Interior for meeting federal trust
responsibilities to restore and maintain the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s fishery. Since
then the tribe has had to litigate against Central Valley interests opposed to
giving up water for fishery restoration and fight for restoration monies from
the BOR.
“The San Joaquin settlement is the latest blow to Trinity River restoration,”
said Marshall
- 30 -
The Oct. 23, 2007 letter from Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Clifford Lyle
Marshall was sent to these California Congressional representatives,
administration officials and other water users.
Member Fax Phone
Feinstein 202 228-3954 or 202 224-3841
202 228-4741
Boxer 415 956-6701 202 224-3553
Radanovich 202 225-3402 202 225-4540
Napolitano 202 225-0027 202 225-5256
Cardoza 202 225-0819 202 225-6131
Costa 202 225-9308 202 225-3341
Baca 202 225-8671 202 225-6161
McNerney 202 226-0861 202 225-1947
Miller 202 225-5609 202 225-2095
Thompson 202 225-4335 202 225-3311
CCs
Karen G. Wayland, Ph.D
Legislative Director
Natural Resources Defense Council
1200 New York Avenue, Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone 202 289-2402
Fax 202 289-1060
Honorable Dirk Kempthorne
Secretary of the Interior
MS 6217-MIB
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20240
Phone 202 208-7351
Fax 202 208-6956
Kole Upton, Chairman
Friant Water Users Authority
c/o The Ferguson Group
1130 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20036
Phone 202 331-8500
Fax 202 331-1598
**************************************
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