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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Interesting….<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">However, though
I have great respect for Chairman Dowd and the Resighini Rancheria residents,
there are nonetheless a number of serious problems and outright errors with his
analysis of the KBRA in this article below, including the
following:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">No
“Terminations” of Any Non-Party Tribe’s Rights:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>While there are some <U>strictly
voluntary</U> water right settlements mentioned in the KBRA only by the
<U>signatory</U> Party Tribes to the KBRA, no non-Party like the Reshigini’s can
be bound in any way by what is essentially just a long-term habitat restoration
contract <U>if they did not sign that contract</U>.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The so-called
“terminations” of the Resighinis rights they fear will just not happen – it is a
pure fiction.</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This fact is also made clear in the
Klamath Basin Economic Restoration Act (S. 1851 and H.R. 3398) that will
implement the deal.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Here is a
direct quote from that bill language:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Sec. 106 (l).</B><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>NONPARTY TRIBES OF THE KLAMATH BASIN
UNAFFECTED – Nothing in this Act or the Restoration Agreement amends, alters, or
limits the authority of the federally recognized tribes of the Klamath Basin,
other than the Party Tribes, to exercise any water rights the tribes hold or may
be determined to hold.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">While it is true
that the federal government cannot sue other Tribes in the basin over the KBRA
on behalf of other non-Party Tribes, being the Trustees for them all, and cannot
in essence “sue itself” to overturn the KBRA when the federal government is
itself going to be a Party, and so has to do what is called “recusing” itself
from participating in any such lawsuit, this is a far cry from any sort of
rights “termination.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Nothing prevents
the Resighini Rancheria from hiring their own lawyers to enforce those rights if
they want to – this is done all the time, whenever a Tribe sues the federal
government, since the feds cannot both represent themselves and simultaneously
act as a Trustee for the suing Tribe against themselves in Court.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">KBRA Provisions
are Misstated:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Several statements made in this article
about what the KBRA actually does are simply wrong.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The 330,000 acre-feet the Klamath
Irrigation Project will have to live within in the future is a “ceiling,” not a
“floor” or minimum; <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>while there is
some money in the KBRA budget to help partially finance a renewable energy
project in the upper basin, this is nowhere near the amount stated, nor is most
of this money a “subsidy” any more than any other type of federal energy
development funding; and the refuge leaselands system was created and has been
allowed continuously by Congressional statute (the Kuchel Act, P.L. 88-567
(U.S.C. 695n)) <U>since 1964</U>, <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">nearly
46 years</I> before the KBRA existed, nor will the KBRA have anything to do with
whether or how long that program remains – only a separate Act of Congress could
change that prior statute. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There are also other such errors I
need not go into here. These errors are the result of simplistic "sound
bite" criticisms and not any real analysis.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Correcting Upper
Basin Water Quality Problems are Separately Being Addressed Under <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>the Clean Water Act:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">There are
numerous well-known water quality problems in the upper Klamath Basin, but the
KBRA – which is really just a long-term restoration contract, remember – is not
the appropriate tool to address those problems.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These problems are all already being
addressed separately under the Clean Water Act and equivalent state water
quality protection laws, including recently legally approved pollution control
standards (TMDLs) in the upper basin intended to solve these water quality
problems over time.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Blaming the KBRA for NOT being the Clean
Water Act is preposterous.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">What the KBRA
would do, however, is bring something like $75 million additional dollars over
the next 15 years to fully fund these already ongoing upper basin TMDL and state
cleanup programs, jump-starting the implementation of these solutions by <U>at
least</U> a decade.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Likely
Outcome of Returning to the FERC Process May Not Be Four Dam
Removal:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Opponents of the Klamath Settlement
Agreements have a touching faith in the willingness of state water agencies in
both states (remember, one of the dams is in Oregon) to go directly against – <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">and win in every court and every appeal, on
every key issue </I>– against the entire litigation might of the Hydropower
Industry, which would surely see a first-time ever actual 401 certification
denial in the Klamath as a major precedent to be fought at all costs.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Those of us who are Parties to the
Settlement simply have much less faith in that process and want to see the dams
come down sooner and with far more certainty.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Opponents of the
Klamath Settlement should remember that the odds are <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">strongly stacked against</I> dam removals
resulting from the FERC and State 401 Certification process.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Not only has
FERC never yet ordered a dam down against the wishes of a relicensing Applicant
in its entire history, no STATE water quality agency has ever “just said no”
outright to a water quality certification application attached to a FERC license
application and made it stick in court.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Setting such a precedent would guarantee many years of litigation and
expense, with appeals in all the state and federal courts for many years, with
no certain outcome – <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">except that the dams
would continue to run just as they are now, on annual license extensions, for as
long as that litigation could be strung out (10-15 years at least are the best
estimates from litigation counsel familiar with this process).</I>
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">PacifiCorp also
has VERY deep pockets to fund litigation – all their litigation costs are
considered routine costs of doing business that are fully funded by its
ratepayers.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">During all that
time of ongoing litigation, without the Klamath Hydropower Settlement Agreement
(KHSA) there would also be NO “interim measures” such as those required by the
current KHSA to protect the fish in the meantime (with the exception of those
few measures required under the PacifiCorp HCP, if any -- but all the other KHSA
“interim measures” would disappear with the KHSA).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">One possible –
<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">potentially likely</I> – outcome of such
an extended court fight from reversion to the FERC process would be that
PacifiCorp would ultimately retain at least the J.C. Boyle Dam in Oregon.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Because this dam IS in Oregon, the clean
water laws that apply to it are much weaker than in California, the Oregon Water
Quality Commission is much less willing to “go to the mat” on this issue and get
sued, the J.C. Boyle dam is by far the most valuable of the four dams for power
production since it produces by far the most power (80 MW capacity), the water
quality problems it creates are the least difficult to clean up, and furthermore
<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">it is likely the least costly of the dams
to retrofit to modern FERC standards for relicensing. </I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><U><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Losing the KBRA
also means</SPAN></U><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">: losing up to
130,000 acre-feet of additional water in the Klamath River every year as
compared to the current <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">status quo</I>;
losing all benefits of a guaranteed water supply for the upper basin National
Wildlife Refuges, letting them go dry in many years as they do today; losing the
Klamath Tribes their only opportunity to reclaim the Mazama Forest as once again
Tribal lands; losing most of the more than 100,000 acre-feet of additional
wetlands restoration and natural storage under Sec. 18 of the KBRA, which will
also benefit fish; losing the Klamath Project “irrigation cap,” the first time
the Klamath Irrigation Project has ever been legally limited in the water it can
take for irrigation and; losing some $75 million in water quality monitoring and
clean-up funds to implement the upper basin TMDLs much faster than would
otherwise be the case, and; losing all the benefits of a 50-year aggressive
watershed and salmon habitat restoration program in the Klamath Basin.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Just taking the
dams down, most biologists agree, will simply NOT be enough to truly revive the
basin’s salmon runs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The water
reforms and multiple watershed restoration benefits of the KBRA will also be
necessary.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In
Summary:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> Settlement
opponents should be VERY careful what they wish for if they are thinking about
jettisoning the current Klamath Settlement and the high degree of certainty of
four-dam removal plus major watershed improvements and water reforms it provides
for.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The chances of
accomplishing four-dam removal, plus all the many restoration efforts the KBRA
also provides, plus major water reforms to reverse years of water
over-appropriation the KBRA also provides for, plus multiple other benefit of
the KBRA, would all likely be MUCH worse (or zilch) under a FERC-only
recourse.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Under the FERC-only
approach, you might well still get the dams down -- in 15 or 20 years
-- but not accomplish lasting salmon restoration.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Anyone who has
more questions on the above, or on the KBRA-KHSA Settlement Agreement generally,
should feel free to contact me PERSONALLY.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>I would be glad to discuss or debate these issues in a more appropriate
forum. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I am always hesitant to
inflict such discussion on open forms such as this one.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> I hope those who are simply not interested in
this issue will forgive me the intrusion.
(smiling)</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNoSpacing><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>=============================================<BR>Glen H. Spain, NW Regional
Director<BR>Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA)<BR>PO
Box 11170, Eugene, OR 97440-3370<BR>O:(541)689-2000 --
Fax:(541)689-2500<BR>Email: fish1ifr@aol.com<BR>Home Page: <A
href="http://www.pcffa.org/">www.pcffa.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 11/19/2011 3:07:26 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
tstokely@att.net writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<H1
style="FONT: bold 22px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; COLOR: rgb(4,58,94)"
id=articleTitle class=articleTitle>Klamath Dam
removal linked to very bad restoration
agreement</H1>
<DIV
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 10px 0px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: verdana, arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(85,85,85); FONT-SIZE: 10px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; PADDING-TOP: 0px"
id=articleByline class=articleByline>Rick
Dowd/For the Times-Standard</DIV>
<DIV
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: verdana, arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(132,128,128); FONT-SIZE: 10px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"
id=articleDate
class=articleDate>Posted: 11/18/2011
02:39:14 AM PST</DIV><A
title=http://www.times-standard.com/guest_opinion/ci_19364130
href="http://www.times-standard.com/guest_opinion/ci_19364130">http://www.times-standard.com/guest_opinion/ci_19364130</A> <BR><SPAN
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<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 15px 0px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Members
of the Resighini Rancheria strongly object to
the approach taken by the federal government and
the state of California for Klamath River dam
removal. We are a small, federally recognized
Indian Tribe with a reservation in Del Norte
County upstream of Highway 101 on the Klamath
River. We have been studying the Klamath
Hydroelectric Project Facilities Removal Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and Draft
Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for several
months and want to inform the community about
major problems we have discovered. Comments on
the DEIS/DEIR are due Monday.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 15px 0px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">The
DEIR/DEIS leads up to a secretary of Interior
decision in March 2012 which, if affirmative,
will not only carry out the Klamath Hydropower
Settlement Agreement (KHSA) that removes dams
but also the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement
(KBRA).</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 15px 0px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">The
KBRA is very damaging to Indian rights and will
not bring about restoration of the Klamath
River.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 15px 0px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">We
were excluded from Klamath settlement
discussions that lead to the KBRA and KHSA, as
were the federally recognized Quartz Valley
Indian Reservation and Del Norte County. The
Hoopa Valley Tribe participated in the
settlement talks but refused to sign the KBRA
because they would have to expressly give up
their water and fishing rights. Both our rights,
and theirs, to protect our fisheries and water
quality will be terminated by the secretary of
Interior if he makes an affirmative decision
(KBRA 15.3.9). Those who are not KBRA and
KHSA</P>
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</DIV>signatories (parties), such as nonnparty
tribes and Del Norte County, will be unable to
participate in committees that govern the
management of the Klamath River until 2062. This
arrangement is undemocratic and of questionable
legality under the Federal Advisory Committee
Act.
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 15px 0px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Despite
the fact that an affirmative secretarial
decision will implement the KBRA, the
environmental report does not examine the
cumulative effects of its water allocation,
stream flow projections and water pollution
impacts. The DEIS/DEIR claims that the KBRA is
insufficiently defined to analyze its effects,
which is untrue. Among other things, it
allocates a minimum of 330,000 acre feet of
water to Klamath Project irrigators, subsidizes
their power costs with $92 million in tax
dollars, and allows farming on 20,000 acres in
Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife
refuges for 50 years. The DEIS/DEIR failure to
analyze cumulative effects from the KBRA and
operation of the Klamath Project is a patent
violation of both National Environmental Policy
Act and the California Environmental Quality
Act.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 15px 0px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">The
Chinook Expert Panel hired as part of the KBRA
process noted that the KBRA had no credible plan
to resolve water pollution problems. The experts
stated that the Keno Reservoir reach of the
Klamath River would continue to be an anoxic
dead zone for weeks a year and that salmon
wouldn't jump through it even after dam removal:
“Without solving the water quality problems, a
fully self-sustaining run of chinook salmon to
the upper basin is unlikely.”</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 15px 0px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">The
Resighini Rancheria and Hoopa Valley Tribe both
favor speedy Klamath Hydroelectric Power dam
decommissioning but oppose the current approach
that is joined to implementation of the KBRA. If
the government had not discarded Alternative 8
from consideration, which is KHP facilities
removal without the KBRA, then the Resighini
Rancheria would have favored that option.
Instead we will comment in favor of the no
action alternative, with a return to the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) relicensing
process.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 15px 0px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">The
proponents of the KBRA say that FERC has never
ordered a dam removed and that dam removal can
come only with the KBRA, their flawed Settlement
Agreement. FERC may not require dam removal, but
its relicensing process can set up conditions
that make project operation uneconomic. An
example is the Condit Dam, on the White Salmon
River in Washington, which was abandoned by
PacifiCorp and decommissioned on Oct. 26 of this
year. Unlike the KBRA, the related Settlement
Agreement would have no negative impact on
existing tribal water and fishing rights. The
National Marine Fisheries Service requirement
for installation of $230 million fish ladders,
if KHP dams remain, cause the KHP to fall into
uneconomic status. Furthermore, the California
State Water Resources Control Board will not
issue 401 Certification as required by the Clean
Water Act and Federal Power Act; therefore,
PacifiCorp will not receive a new license and
will have to abandon and decommission.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 15px 0px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Comments
can be submitted electronically at <A
style="OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: ; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-DECORATION: none"
title=http://klamathrestoration.gov/Draft-EIS-EIR
href="http://klamathrestoration.gov/Draft-EIS-EIR">http://klamathrestoration.gov/Draft-EIS-EIR</A>/feedback.
For more information on the DEIS/DEIR, Klamath
River ecological restoration and the newly
introduced authorizing legislation that we
oppose, see our website: <A
style="OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: ; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-DECORATION: none"
title=http://www.klamather.org/
href="http://www.klamather.org/">www.klamather.org</A>.</P>
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<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 15px 0px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Rick
Dowd is Resighini Rancheria
chairman.</P></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></SPAN>
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