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<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>TRINITY RIVER RESTORATION</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>Hupas ask power interest to back out of Trinity
suit </STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>Eureka Times-Standard -
3/17/04</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<P>Dozens of Hupa Indians marched on the offices of the Northern California
Power Agency on Monday asking that a suit barring restoration of the Trinity
River be dropped. </P>
<P>Joined by Roseville residents, fishermen and environmentalists, the tribal
members offered the agency officials a basket of kippered salmon, as a peace
offering. </P>
<P>The power agency is suing over the approval of a restoration plan for the
river, most of which is diverted to the Sacramento River and Central Valley
farms. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt signed off on the plan in
2000.</P>
<P>But a suit has blocked the implementation of the plan.</P>
<P>Other cities and utility districts, including the Sacramento Municipal
Utilities District have dropped out of the suit being spearheaded by the
Westlands Water District. </P>
<P>"The Trinity River is part of our sustenance and culture," said Hoopa Valley
Tribal Chairman Clifford Lyle Marshall. "The NCPA is destroying the river, the
fish and our tribal heritage by taking too much water from the river."</P>
<P>The 2000 restoration plan calls for a reduction in the diversion, from about
75 percent to nearly 50 percent. That difference only produces a small amount of
power, and estimates have been made that the average power agency ratepayer
would only see a $3 per year increase in their bill if the plan was implemented.
</P>
<P>The Hoopa Tribe, which sees the plan as a settlement, has been presented with
two settlement proposals that would crimp flows to the river more than the
restoration plan. Westland's proposal was rebuffed, as was a recent proposal
from the U.S. Interior Department, as ignoring the two decades of science behind
the original restoration plan.</P></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080></FONT></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Byron Leydecker</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Chairman, Friends of Trinity
River</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Consultant, California Trout,
Inc,</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>PO Box 2327</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>415 383 4810 ph</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>415 519 4810 cell</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>415 383 9562 fx</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><A href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><FONT
color=#0000ff>bwl3@comcast.net</FONT></A></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><A href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><FONT
color=#0000ff>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</FONT></A><FONT color=#0000ff>
(secondary)</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><A href="http://www.fotr.org/"><FONT
color=#0000ff>http://www.fotr.org</FONT></A></EM></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.caltrout.org/"><EM>http://www.caltrout.org</EM></A></DIV>
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