<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#060001">Good Morning</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#060001"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#060001">Here are my latest three pieces. The first is today's LTE in the Sacramento Bee about the Department of Water Resources applying for an "incidental take" permit to kill endangered species. The second is a fishsniffer.com article about the Westands Water District bond ratings being downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The third is a daily kos piece on the Inspector General's report about Reclamation wasting $32 million on Klamath irrigator subsidies. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"> </span></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#060001">Thanks</font></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#060001">Dan </font></span></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article109232707.html">http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article109232707.html</a> <div><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'McClatchy Serif', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.25em; color: inherit; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 20px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">State applies for tunnels permit<span class="ng-command" data-value="252" style="box-sizing: border-box; "></span></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; ">Re “<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/dan-walters/" target="_blank" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Brown’s projects doomed?</a>” (Capitol & California, Dan Walters, Oct. 16): Gov. Jerry Brown’s legacy project, the controversial California WaterFix, is becoming increasingly unpopular among Californians, since it could be one of the most environmentally destructive public works projects in state history.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; ">Brown and other state officials have constantly claimed the Delta tunnels project will “restore” the Delta ecosystem, but they revealed their real plans Oct. 7 when the administration applied for a permit to kill Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt and other endangered and threatened species with the project.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; ">The Department of Water Resources submitted an “incidental intake” application for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in alleged “compliance” with the California Endangered Species Act in order to build and operate the tunnels.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; ">The tunnels project won’t restore the Delta, but will only drive these struggling fish populations into extinction while costing the ratepayers and taxpayers nearly $16 billion.</p><div class="ng_signature" style="box-sizing: border-box; "><p style="font-style: italic; text-transform: uppercase; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; ">DAN BACHER, SACRAMENTO </p><p style="font-style: italic; text-transform: uppercase; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; "><br></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">2. <a href="http://fishsniffer.com/index.php/2016/10/19/fitch-ratings-downgrades-westland-water-districts-next-bond-sale/">http://fishsniffer.com/index.php/2016/10/19/fitch-ratings-downgrades-westland-water-districts-next-bond-sale/</a></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; "><img height="266" width="404" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:58A04EA4-6502-40BC-A7D0-6315AF5954B7"></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 20px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="4"><i>Photo of Hoopa Valley Tribe protest against Westlands Water District's attacks on the Trinity River by Dan Bacher.</i></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 20px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="6">Fitch Ratings Downgrades Westland Water District's Next Bond Sale</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">by Dan Bacher</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">It looks like the politically powerful Westlands Water District, one of the main backers of Governor Jerry Brown's Delta Tunnels and Congressional legislation to eviscerate protections for Sacramento River Chinook salmon and Delta smelt, is in more financial trouble.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">Fitch Ratings downgraded the scheduled October 26 bond sale by Westlands from 'AA-' to 'A+'.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">Among the issues facing Westlands Water District, Fitch cites shrinking irrigated acreage, previous financial obligations, and the potential for increased “leveraging” to pay for the Delta Tunnels," according to Restore the Delta (RTD). </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">The downgrade reflects Fitch's view that district operations face increased pressure over time," reported Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway Company, on October 17. "Despite improvements to the district's debt profile following this transaction and potentially lower leveraging related to a drainage settlement with the U.S. than previous estimates, the prospect of ongoing escalation in district charges coupled with probable declines in irrigated acreage heightens concentration risk and affordability concern."</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">The statement includes a warning that overcommitting to the California WaterFix could push the rating even lower.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">“Public reports now estimate the district's share of future costs of the California Fix at $2.5 billion… Significant further leverage by the district in support of the California Fix could apply downward pressure to the ratings," the Business Wire reported.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta executive director, quipped, “Bond ratings agencies are like Mom and Dad. Westlands is asking to raise the limit on their credit card again, despite questionable earnings potential. At some point Mom and Dad get out the scissors."</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">“Tunnel proponents cannot demonstrate how $17 billion, before cost overruns, will be raised to build the Delta Tunnels. The public does not have a completed and vetted finance plan for the project to examine. When asked who commits to paying the bill, all the water districts point to someone else," she said.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">"What is clear is that ‘someone else’ includes federal taxpayers, California taxpayers, Southern California and Silicon Valley property taxpayers, and urban water ratepayers. These folks will end up subsidizing large agricultural interests like Westlands growers," Barrigan-Parrilla concluded.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">The downgrading follows a huge financial scandal that Westlands has been enmeshed in. The federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 10, 2016 charged Westlands, California’s largest agricultural water district, with “misleading investors about its financial condition as it issued a $77 million bond offering."</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">In addition to charging the district, the SEC also charged its general manager Thomas Birmingham and former assistant general manager Louie David Ciapponi with misleading investors about its financial condition.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">“Birmingham jokingly referred to these transactions as ‘a little Enron accounting’ when describing them to the board of directors, which is comprised of Westlands customers,” the SEC reported.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">The SEC said Westlands agreed to pay $125,000 to settle the charges, making it only the second municipal issuer to pay a financial penalty in an SEC enforcement action.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">Birmingham agreed to pay a penalty of $50,000 and Ciapponi agreed to pay a penalty of $20,000 to settle the charges against them.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">“The undisclosed accounting transactions, which a manager referred to as ‘a little Enron accounting,’ benefited customers but left investors in the dark about Westlands Water District’s true financial condition,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC Enforcement Division. “Issuers must be truthful with investors and we will seek to deter such misconduct through sanctions, including penalties against municipal issuers in appropriate circumstances.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">For more information, go to: <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/10/1499271/-Federal-SEC-Charges-Westlands-Water-District-for-Enron-Accounting">http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/10/1499271/-Federal-SEC-Charges-Westlands-Water-District-for-Enron-Accounting</a></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; "><br></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" face="'Open Sans'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">3. <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/10/16/1583352/-Klamath-Irrigators-Illegal-Piggy-Bank-Broken-Up">http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/10/16/1583352/-Klamath-Irrigators-Illegal-Piggy-Bank-Broken-Up</a></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" face="'Open Sans'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><img alt="klamath.jpg" class="img-responsive width-xl" data-src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/290283/story_image/klamath.jpg?1471807419" height="533" title="klamath.jpg" width="800" src="cid:4D3FFC95-130B-486C-AF58-F7AF5E75C3F7"></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); line-height: 20px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><i>Photo of Iron Gate Dam on the Klamath River by Dan Bacher.</i></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" size="6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; ">Inspector General charges Reclamation with "wasting" $32 million on Klamath irrigators</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" face="'Open Sans'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">by Dan Bacher</span></font></p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Federal auditors have found that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) wasted $32 million intended for fish and wildlife and drought relief in the Klamath Basin on subsidies for irrigators. </p></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">This scandal takes place as the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes, recreational anglers, commercial fishing families and river and coastal communities are suffering from the big cultural and economic loss caused by low numbers of returning salmon on the Klamath River this year, the result of decades of mismanagement by the state and federal governments.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The misspending is a revealed in a new audit report that confirms charges leveled last year by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">“We found that USBR did not have the legal authority to enter into the cooperative agreement, resulting in $32.2 million in wasted funds spent by KWAPA (Klamath Water and Power Agency )under the agreement,” wrote Mary L. Kendall, Deputy Inspector General for the Office of Inspector General, in the audit report dated October 11, 2016.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The report found that the program had done little to restore endangered coho salmon, Lost River suckers and shortnose suckers, as it was intended to do.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Reclamation disputes the Inspector General’s findings. “Reclamation maintains that the reimbursement program has been an important tool in dealing with water issues in an over-allocated basin,” Reclamation claimed in a written statement. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">In a news release, PEER described the arrangement between Reclamation and KWAPA as the “Klamath Irrigators’ Illegal Piggy Bank.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">“While the payments have ended, Reclamation refuses to change its practices to prevent future abuse or to recoup moneys illegally spent,” according to PEER, (<a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/klamath-irrigators-illegal-piggy-bank-broken-up.html" href="http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/klamath-irrigators-illegal-piggy-bank-broken-up.html" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(234, 113, 6); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">www.peer.org/...</a>)</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Klamath Water and Power Agency was a water and power authority in Klamath Falls, Oregon that received water from federal water projects in northern California and southern Oregon. KWAPA was forced to close its doors on March 31, 2006 due to “disorganization” and complaints filed by PEER. (<a data-cke-saved-href="http://ktvl.com/news/local/kwapa-forced-to-close-due-to-disorganization-in-klamath-county" href="http://ktvl.com/news/local/kwapa-forced-to-close-due-to-disorganization-in-klamath-county" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(234, 113, 6); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">ktvl.com/...</a>)</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Klamath River watershed — and its precious salmon and steelhead populations — have been devastated by a series of droughts in recent years. Over the past several years, Reclamation, under pressure from Tribes, fishermen and environmentalists, has released supplemental cold water flows from Trinity Reservoir into the Trinity River to stop a massive fish kill on the lower Klamath like the one that ravaged the river in September 2002. During that fish kill, the largest of its kind in U.S. history, an estimated 35,000 to 68,000 salmon perished. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">PEER said the IG report details how Reclamation diverted $32 million in federal funds intended for drought contingency planning and helping struggling fish populations:</p><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; "><li style="box-sizing: border-box; ">In a “waste of funds” wholly lacking in any legal authority; </li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; ">Paying for KWAPA salaries, fringe benefits, rent, travel and other expenses whose benefits flowed “primarily to irrigator contractors rather than fish and wildlife,” including $4.2 million for uses that could not be supported with documentation or were outright “unallowable”; and</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; ">By modifying the KWAPA contract “19 times to expand the scope of activities” and extend the original payment program from 2008 through September 30, 2015. </li></ul></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Bureau rejects these findings — so the IG is “kicking this intra-agency dispute upstairs” in Interior to the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget for resolution, according to PEER.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">“Basically, the Bureau of Reclamation became an illicit ATM for favored special interests,” stated PEER Senior Counsel Paula Dinerstein. “To add injury to insult, these improper subsidies were used to aggravate environmental damage by draining shrinking groundwater supplies to benefit irrigators.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Dinerstein emphasized that these illegal payments would be continuing if Reclamation employees had not blown the whistle. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The whistleblower complaint from two Reclamation biologists filed through PEER prodded the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to order Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell to address the illegal diversion of funds and how her agency would remedy identified violations. “That answer to the Special Counsel was due back in August of 2015 but Reclamation, on the Secretary’s behalf, has obtained extensions totaling 15 months,” said Dinerstein.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">“Reclamation is circling its wagons to defend the potentially criminal conduct by its own managers,”said Dinerstein, pointing to the Anti-Deficiency Act that forbids expenditures not authorized by any appropriation and is enforced by criminal fines and/or imprisonment for up to two years. “We will keep pressing for some accountability to taxpayers from Reclamation’s multi-year, multi-million dollar illegal money-laundering operation.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Jim McCarthy, Communications Director & Southern Oregon Program Manager for WaterWatch, pointed out that not only was this program apparently illegal and wasted millions,but the resulting lack of water on the Klamath’s wildlife refuges, which the program in question was created to provide, “actually killed huge numbers of wildlife in recent years.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">In fact, seventeen conservation groups sent a letter to Interior Secretary Jewell on October 13 asking for emergency water deliveries for the Klamath refuges to reduce the risk of yet another waterfowl die-off, said McCarthy.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The letter states, “As you are aware, since 2012, tens of thousands of birds on these refuges have died for lack of water resulting from allocation decisions made within the Department of the Interior. When few wetland acres are available on these refuges due to lack of water, large numbers of waterfowl pack together during migration periods, leading to lethal disease outbreaks. Refuge staff estimated that some 20,000 birds perished this way in 2014. Similar conditions on these refuges sparked massive waterfowl die-offs in 2012 and 2013." </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Mike Orcutt, Fisheries Director of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, said the water bank created under the agreement between Reclamation and KWAPA was supposed to improve water quality and the fishery in the Klamath Basin, but that didn’t happen, according to the IG report.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">“Looking to the future, the Tribe receives their money for fish restoration from the same budget and the budget has been flatlined. We get the aftermath of that flatlined budget,” he said. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Another potential impact is that this scandal could impact the trust in the Bureau by Congress and make it harder for similar future agreements to be funded.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">“You’re going to be hard-pressed to get the money if you don’t use the funds for what you were supposed to,” Orcutt told the Eureka Times-Standard. (<a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.times-standard.com/article/NJ/20161017/NEWS/161019812" href="http://www.times-standard.com/article/NJ/20161017/NEWS/161019812" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(234, 113, 6); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">www.times-standard.com/...</a>) </p><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: right; "></div></div></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><div style="box-sizing: border-box; "><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">On July 29, the Hoopa Valley Tribe filed a lawsuit against the federal government for violations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) over management actions that have imperiled Coho salmon on the Klamath River.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Tribe filed the litigation against the Bureau of Reclamation, the same agency involved in the wasting of $32 million, and the National Marine Fisheries Service in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Oakland Division, to protect the Coho salmon, listed as an endangered species under the ESA. The Trinity River, the largest tributary of the Klamath, runs through the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Hoopa lawsuit is expected to be followed by several other lawsuits, including litigation by the Yurok Tribe, Karuk Tribe and Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), Institute for Fisheries Resources, Klamath Riverkeeper and Earthjustice. (<a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/7/29/1554325/-Hoopa-Valley-Tribe-Files-ESA-Lawsuit-to-Protect-Salmon" href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/7/29/1554325/-Hoopa-Valley-Tribe-Files-ESA-Lawsuit-to-Protect-Salmon" target="_blank" data-original-title="" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(234, 113, 6); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">www.dailykos.com/...</a>) </p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Hopefully, this illegal spending of $32 million in federal funds to further subsidize already heavily-subsidized agribusiness interests will result in criminal convictions if the allegations by PEER are proven true.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">This is not the first time that state and government officials have diverted millions of dollars designed to restore fish and wildlife for other purposes. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; ">For example, the Department of Interior’s Inspector General earlier this year opened an investigation into the possible illegal use of millions of dollars by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) in preparing the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Governor Jerry Brown’s controversial Delta Tunnels Plan. (</span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/12/feds-to-probe-misuse-of-state-funds-for-jerry-browns-delta-tunnels/" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/12/feds-to-probe-misuse-of-state-funds-for-jerry-browns-delta-tunnels/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(234, 113, 6); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">www.counterpunch.org/...</a>)</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="box-sizing: border-box; ">The investigation resulted from a complaint PEER filed on the behalf of a Bureau of Reclamation employee on February 19, 2016. The complaint, made public in a statement from PEER on April 11, details how a funding agreement with DWR is “illegally siphoning off funds that are supposed to benefit fish and wildlife to a project that will principally benefit irrigators” under the California Water Fix, the newest name for the Delta Tunnels plan. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="box-sizing: border-box; ">The Delta Tunnels project is deeply connected to the Klamath River watershed. T</span>he two 35-mile long tunnels under the Delta would hasten the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species. The project would also imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers, a fishery that for thousands of years has played an integral part in the culture, religion and food supply of the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><a data-cke-saved-href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=3&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.doioig.gov%2Fsites%2Fdoioig.gov%2Ffiles%2FFinalAudit_USBR%2527sKlamathBasinWaterUserMitigationProgram_101116%2520%25281%2529.pdf" href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=3&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.doioig.gov%2Fsites%2Fdoioig.gov%2Ffiles%2FFinalAudit_USBR%2527sKlamathBasinWaterUserMitigationProgram_101116%2520%25281%2529.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(234, 113, 6); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Read the IG audit report</a></p></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><a data-cke-saved-href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=6&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.peer.org%2Fnews%2Fnews-releases%2Ffederal-probe-into-klamath-irrigator-contracts-ordered.html+" href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=6&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.peer.org%2Fnews%2Fnews-releases%2Ffederal-probe-into-klamath-irrigator-contracts-ordered.html+" data-original-title="" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(234, 113, 6); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Look at still pending probe from the Office of Special Counsel </a></p><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></span></p></div><div class="ng_signature" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'McClatchy Sans', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="ng-command" data-value="252" style="box-sizing: border-box; "></span></div></div></body></html>