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<DIV class=articleTitle>Concerns well up over Klamath
agreement</DIV><!--subtitle--><!--byline-->
<DIV class=articleByline>John Driscoll/The
Times-Standard</DIV><!--date-->
<DIV class=articleDate>Article Launched: 03/05/2008
01:27:11 AM PST</DIV><BR><SPAN fd-type="end"
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<P>
<P>
<P>The Northcoast Environmental Center's opposition to
the agreement touted to be a major first step toward a
settlement to remove the Klamath River's dams has some
concerned about the potential for the deal's political
progress.
<P>The center on Monday said the agreement aired in
January provides guarantees for water deliveries to
irrigators in the Upper Klamath Basin, but not for
salmon. As written, the Arcata-based group said, the
deal could thwart the recovery of salmon in the
watershed.
<P>”Our rejection of the agreement is predicated on no
guarantee of water for fish,” said center Executive
Director Greg King.
<P>The environmental center consulted with Arcata
fisheries expert Bill Trush and Klamath River
hydrologist Thomas Hardy, who both expressed serious
reservations about the commitment of water to farms. It
also commissioned a legal review, which it received
Tuesday, King said.
<P>”This premise squarely places onto the salmon and the
river ecosystem any risk inherent in the conclusion that
flows contained in the agreement will actually provide
enough water for recovery of the species,” Trush wrote
in his analysis. “Nowhere is this clearer than in the
future allocation of water.”
<P>The deal is still being finalized, however, and the
parties in the talks that led to the agreement are
meeting today in Ashland, Ore.
<P>Craig Tucker, Klamath campaign organizer for the
Karuk Tribe, said that the environmental center brings
up some reasonable concerns. But he said a drought plan
will be developed as part of the agreement to safeguard
water for salmon in the driest years, and that the deal
preserves the tribes' and other parties' right to sue if
federally protected species are at risk of serious harm.
</P>
<P>Tucker said the tribe's flow plan for the river lined
out in the agreement is solid, and comes out of a
strategy by tribes in the Klamath Basin with a goal of
removing the four dams on the river. Tucker said it's
hard to imagine putting out a proposal for dam removal
and Klamath restoration without bipartisan support --
something which the environmental center's opposition
could threaten.
<P>”I do feel like they're letting the perfect be the
enemy of the good,” Tucker said.
<P>The Hoopa Valley Tribe has also opposed the
agreement, calling it a water deal that does not include
the critical element of dam removal. The settlement
group is in talks with dam owner Pacificorp, and several
parties have pledged their support of the basin-wide
agreement only if a deal is reached with the company to
take down the dams.
<P>Humboldt County Supervisor Jill Geist said she hopes
the environmental center will bring its issues to the
table at today's talks, but said that the various
parties' support or lack of support matters most after
the final draft of the agreement is reached. Geist said
it seems premature for the center to say it's rejecting
the deal.
<P>”This is our opportunity,” Geist said. “We have 50
years until the next one and we need to give it the best
shot we can.”
<P>The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is
finalizing a relicensing agreement with Pacificorp for
the dams, a process that occurs every 30 to 50 years. It
has signaled in its draft environmental analysis that
the dams can continue operating. But federal fisheries
and wildlife agencies have directed that Pacificorp will
have to build fish ladders -- at a cost of possibly
hundreds of millions of dollars -- to allow salmon to
get to historic spawning grounds above the dams.
<P>King said that the environmental center intends to
fund an alternative plan to evaluate the needs of
salmon, and that it would have to be completed before
the group would support the agreement. He said he
recognizes that any delay could mean the agreement is
considered in the next congressional cycle, but he
didn't see the deal disintegrating because of it.
<P>Rep. Mike Thompson has voiced his support for the
agreement, and added that he hopes the center remains
part of the talks.
<P>”I think it's extremely important that NEC remains a
participant of the talks, despite their opposition,”
Thompson said in a statement. “I've always been a
supporter of this process. I expect that there will be
some changes before this draft proposal is finalized,
and I hope NEC will remain an interested and productive
player.”
<P>
<P>John Driscoll can be reached at 441-0504 or <A
href="mailto:jdriscoll@times-standard.com">jdriscoll@times-standard.com</A>.</P></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>