<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><div>http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_24123694/klamath-water-task-force-needs-more-time <br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; "><h1 id="articleTitle" class="articleTitle" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; color: inherit; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-size: 33px; border-collapse: collapse; ">Klamath water task force making progress</h1><div id="articleByline" class="articleByline" style="text-align: left; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: italic; font-size: 14px;
border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22px; ">By JEFF BARNARD Associated Press<div id="articleDate" class="articleSecondaryDate meta" style="text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 10px/16.989px 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(128, 128, 128); text-transform: uppercase; white-space: nowrap; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 22px; ">POSTED: 09/18/2013 01:36:09 PM PDT <span style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; ">|</span> <span id="dateUpdated" title="09/18/2013 05:38:41 PM">UPDATED: 10 DAYS AGO</span></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; font-size: 18px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; font-size: 18px; "><span fd-type="start" fd-id="default"></span></span><div class="articlePositionHeader" style="text-align: left; border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; font-size: 18px; "></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; font-size: 18px; "><span fd-type="end" fd-id="default"></span></span><div id="articleBody" class="articleBody" style="text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal
Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; "><div class="articleViewerGroup" id="articleViewerGroup" style="text-align: left; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "><span class="articleEmbeddedViewerBox" style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "></span><span fd-type="start" fd-id="default"></span><span fd-type="end" fd-id="default"></span></div><span fd-type="start" fd-id="default"></span>GRANTS PASS, Ore.—A task force working on an agreement for sharing scarce water in the Klamath Basin has made progress on securing low-cost power for irrigators but will need more time to complete its work, officials said Wednesday.<div
style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">The thorniest issue—finding ways to ensure cattle ranchers have irrigation water while the viability of fish sacred to the Klamath Tribes is protected—is proving the toughest to resolve.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">The task force's last meeting had been scheduled for Thursday in Klamath Falls, but it will need a few more weeks to finish.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color:
rgb(51, 51, 51); ">"All the parties involved in the water negotiations are working hard to get to agreement," said Richard Whitman, the governor's natural resources adviser, who is overseeing the task force's work.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">The task force was created by the governor and members of Congress after drought and newly recognized water rights for the tribes forced irrigation shutoffs to ranchers on the former reservation.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Its report will serve as a supplement to the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, which is a companion
deal to an agreement to help salmon by removing four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River. The restoration agreement has been bogged down in Congress, where it is adamantly opposed by House Republicans.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">A draft report being considered Thursday includes a provision to extend low-cost power to irrigators in the upper basin at similar rates afforded irrigators on the Klamath Reclamation Project, a federal irrigation project straddling the Oregon-California border.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">It also will include a section on reducing the
overall cost. Whitman said a previous $550 million estimate of costs to the federal treasury for 10 years has been cut by 38 percent to $209 million.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Don Gentry, chairman of the Klamath Tribes, agreed that progress was being made on the tough issue of ensuring some water for ranchers now cut off by drought and the tribes' water rights.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">"But we know we've got more work to do," Gentry said.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal
15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Once the task force produces a set of recommendations, it would be open to revision based on public comments.<br style="clear: both; "></div></div></div></div></body></html>