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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="2">Media Contacts: Danny Jordan (530) 625-4211 <BR>
Mike Orcutt (530) 625-4267 ext. 13<BR>
Tod Bedrosian (916) 421-5121<BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="2"><B>HOOPA VALLEY TRIBE QUESTIONS NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL’S STAND ON SAN JOAQUIN RIVER SETTLEMENT <BR>
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Hoopa, Calif. – </B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="2">The Natural Resource Defense Council’s (NRDC) support for the Congressional settlement (H.R. 24) of the San Joaquin River lawsuit is at odds with its commitment to environmental justice and will short change the restoration efforts of the Trinity River in Humboldt County, according to Danny Jordan, one of the water negotiators for the Hoopa Valley Tribe. “We are the only ones we know with a substantial stake in Central Valley Project environmental restoration programs who were denied a seat at the table during months of negotiations that concluded with a settlement bill being introduced,” said Jordan. <BR>
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The mission statement of the NRDC calls for minorities to be relieved of the “disproportionate burden” environmental abuses inflicted on their communities “So it is very sad that we were neither seen nor heard until others had made a decision at the expense of our environment,” said Jordan, whose reservation is bisected by the Trinity River and whose fishery is protected as a federal trust asset. <BR>
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Jordan said the Department of the Interior has recognized the San Joaquin settlement will cause an annual reduction of up to a 25 percent in funds available from the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) restoration fund. “Implementation of the San Joaquin River settlement should not come at the expense of ongoing CVPIA environmental restoration activities or the federal trust responsibility to our tribe expressly recognized in the CVPIA,” said Jordan. <BR>
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The tribe has provided Congress and the settlement parties with proposed amendments that would protect the interests of Trinity River restoration without affecting the core principles of the settlement. “We think this can be resolved with a good faith effort on all sides” said Jordan. “Unfortunately,’ he added, “time is running short so we have to act soon.”<BR>
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