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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Bush Tries to Raid Salmon Disaster Funds!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>by Dan
Bacher </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>West Coast Representatives and
leaders of fishing groups are outraged by an attempt by the White House to yank
$70 million in disaster funding from commercial and recreational fishermen in
order to pay for the census. </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>The Bush Administration’s Office of
Management & Budget (OMD) on Monday, June 9 sent a proposal to Congress to
amend the President's budget to take $70 million of the $180 million that West
Coast Representatives put into the farm bill for disaster assistance for
fishermen devastated by fishing closures off the coast of <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>
and <st1:State w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State> and in <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place> rivers. </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>West Coast Democrats reacted to
the proposal by sending an angry letter to President Bush calling his proposal
to take the disaster funding from fishermen in order to pay for a failed
contract to the Harris Corporation assigned to do the 2010 Census as
“unconscionable.” </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>“This proposal is especially
egregious when you consider that your administration’s water policies on all of
the <st1:place w:st="on">Pacific Northwest</st1:place>’s major salmon rivers
are the reason this disaster funding is needed in the first place,” the letter
said. </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>The Representatives noted that
three different courts have found the administration’s water plans for the <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City>, Klamath and
Columbia/Snake Rivers to be illegal and in violation of the Endangered Species
Act. </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>“These failed policies have
resulted in over 80,000 dead adult salmon in the Klamath River, record low
returns to the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City>
and Columbia/Snake River systems, two fishery disaster declarations issued by
the Secretary of Commerce and two years of fishing closures impacting thousands
of families and small business,” the letter continued. “The states of <st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State>, <st1:State w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State> and <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State> estimated
this year’s closure alone will have a $290 million impact on these fishing
communities. Scientists expect similar low returns to the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City> next year and another closed
season for most of the West Coast.” </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Representatives Mike Thompson,
Peter DeFazio, Darlene Hooley, Anna Eshoo, Jim McDermott, Brian Baird, Doris
Matsui, Lois Capps, Lynn Woolsey, Earl Blumenauer, David Wu, Rick Larson, Sam
Farr and Jay Inslee signed the letter. </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>“To suggest that the money to pay
for this contract mistake is diverted from emergency disaster payments is yet
another blow delivered by your administration to the fishing families and small
businesses in the <st1:place w:st="on">Pacific Northwest</st1:place>,” they
stated. “It is a clear sign that your administration is not committed to
protecting these river systems and has no interest in helping the fishing
communities and economies reliant on them.” </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Dick Pool, president of Pro-Troll
Fishing Products and coordinator of Water for Fish (</span></font></span><a
href="http://www.water4fish.org),"><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2
color="#0011cc" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:#0011CC'>www.water4fish.org),</span></font></span></a><span
class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'> said news of the attempted raid of the disaster relief
was “very distressing considering the devastating financial impact that the
salmon fishing closure is having on the recreational and commercial fishing
industries of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>.” </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>"I'm not surprised to see
Bush trying to take away needed money from our community,” said Mike Hudson,
president of the Small Boat Commercial Fisherman’s Association and coordinator
of the SalmonAid Festival that took place in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Oakland</st1:place></st1:City> on May 31 and June 1. “Through his
actions over the last few years, he has told us time and again that we don't
matter to him. What would you expect from a man who wants to declare dams as
natural structures and lets rivers run dry? That he would allow a dime to find
it's way into the pockets of hard working people who oppose these dams,
diversions and pollution of our waters?" </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>The Bush and Schwarzenegger
administrations continue to blame “ocean conditions” for the sudden and
unprecedented collapse of Sacramento River fall run chinook salmon, while a
broad coalition of recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, Indian Tribes
and conservationists contends that increased water exports from the California
Delta and declining water quality play a major role in the collapse. The <st1:place
w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place> fall chinook population has declined from
over 800,000 fish in 2002 to under 60,000 this year. </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>The decline of the <st1:place
w:st="on">Central Vallley</st1:place> fall run chinook parallels the collapse
of four pelagic (open water) species – delta smelt, longfin smelt, juvenile
striped bass and threadfin shad – in recent years. A panel of state and federal
scientists has pinpointed changes in water exports as the number one reason for
the collapse, followed by toxics and invasive species. </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>More recently, two studies
conducted by Richard Dugdale, a <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
oceanographer, contend that ammonia from <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City>’s
treated sewage discharge may be killing Delta smelt and other species (Stockton
Record, June 11). </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Fortunately, it is unlikely that
the White House will be able to push his proposal through Congress, based on
strong opposition from both Democrats and Republicans. </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>“This request is a slap in the
face to the scores of salmon fishermen in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State> who are struggling to make ends meet
in the wake of the largest salmon closure in West Coast history,” said Senator
Gordon H. Smith (R-Oregon). “Rest assured there will be a strong bipartisan
effort to ensure that these cuts don’t go through.”</span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
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