Off–Project water settlement within reach —
let’s get to work
There’s more than 200 claimants/ irrigators in the water adjudication process above Upper Klamath Lake, and that doesn’t even begin to touch our groundwater pumpers. When the proposed water settlement agreement was released three weeks ago, I bet eight landowners above the lake were signed onto the confidentiality agreement and really understood what was going on. A group called Klamath Off-Project Power Users, representing a segment of landowners who are not in the Klamath Reclamation Project, secured a seat for themselves at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission table several years ago. They had a seat at the table for power issues. It is no surprise that we don’t have a water settlement. Basic interests Most of us share basic interests: We want to protect ranching and farming above Upper Klamath Lake. There are things we need to be successful. An end to litigation. Water security. Affordable power. Protections from regulatory demands such as the Endangered Species Act. When I look at the settlement document from the off-Project perspective (and through my water attorney), there are some positives. The protections from regulatory demands are probably the best we can expect under law. The investment to achieve a target power rate at 3 cents represents the hard work irrigators went through to try to come up with a solution. The settlement group extended this benefit to any off-Project irrigator under the 1956 contract who wants to participate. I don’t believe we’ll be successful litigating PacifiCorp to get back our old power rate. The Klamath Project has a future in this settlement document. I crowded the streets in downtown Klamath Falls with thousands of other community members and landowners in 2001, when the Endangered Species Act brought severe damage to an important segment of our community. I have not forgotten that day, and I salute the hard work of individuals in the Project who have spent years crafting a future for farming below the lake. The Klamath Tribes would like to put some private timberland to work. Partial acquisition of the Mazama Tree farm is in this settlement agreement. Our rural communities are still reeling from cutbacks in the timber industry. I look forward to the day when the Crater Lake Mill site is running again. Missing a core concern What’s missing and is a core concern to me is a water settlement for the off-Project irrigators. There’s a give in the document of 30,000 acrefeet of water from my community in addition to land we’ve already retired. We have not negotiated our take, which would be to find where the “cap” to tribal water calls would be. We must settle this. Section 16 in the settlement lays out a plan for doing that. We need to start working on this now. Section 16 calls for a transparent process open to anyone who has a claim or is a contestant in the adjudication. No more secret meetings or backroom deals. The solution lies in the various groups and individuals above the lake bringing their best efforts—and literally years of work forward to solve this issue. I urge the commissioners and others to recognize the democratic intention in Section 16. Every claimant or contestant in the adjudication has a right to represent his or her private water rights in this process. It’s time for the people who pay the hay bill, the power bill, the taxes and the land payment to negotiate their own future. I suggest we get busy.
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