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Dem House panel chair calls hearing into Cheney’s role in 2002 salmon die-off
The chairman of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee said Thursday his panel will hold a hearing into the role Vice President Dick Cheney may have played in the 2002 die-off of about 70,000 salmon in the Klamath River.
Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said the Democratic-led committee has been examining what he called the Bush administration’s ‘‘penchant to favor politics over science in the implementation of the Endangered Species Act.’’
The Klamath Water Users Association’s executive director, however, called it “another low for the national press and the politicians who are making this into a feeding frenzy.”
Greg Addington said Klamath Basin farmers and ranchers are being used as a weapon in a political fight that will have no positive results. He asked why, if Cheney was as influential in Klamath water policy in early 2001 as critics claim, water was shut off to farms and ranches that spring?
“The administration has made tremendous strides trying to help the environment while not eliminating agriculture in Klamath,” Addington said. “The record is pretty clear that more water has been dedicated to listed species, and more funding has been dedicated for restoration under this administration than under any previous administration.”
Water from the Klamath River is used on the 240,000-acre Klamath Reclamation Project in the Klamath Falls-Tulelake area. About 200,000 acres of the Project is irrigated.
Cheney blamed for fish kill
In light of allegations made about Cheney’s role in developing a 10-year water plan for the Klamath River that courts later called arbitrary and in violation of the Endangered Species Act, a hearing is worthwhile, Rahall said. He and other Democrats charged that Cheney’s action resulted in the largest adult salmon kill in the history of the West.
‘‘It certainly appears this administration will stop at nothing to achieve political gain from natural resources disasters,’’ Rahall said. ‘‘Ultimately, it will be hardworking Americans and their healthy environment that will lose if we fail to act.’’
West Coast Democrats called for the hearing Wednesday after the Washington Post reported that Cheney may have played a key role in the 2002 salmon die-off.
‘‘The ramifications of that salmon kill are still being felt today as returns to the Klamath River are so low that commercial, sport and tribal fishing seasons have been curtailed for the past three years,’’ 36 House Democrats said in a letter to Rahall calling for the hearing.
Commercial f ishing in California and Oregon was cut by more than 90 percent last year — the largest commercial fishing closure in the history of the country — resulting in more than $60 million in damage to coastal economies, the letter said.
Megan McGinn, a spokeswoman for the vice president’s office, said late Wednesday she had not seen the letter and could not comment.
Basin political controversy
The salmon die-off and water usage in the droughtplag ued K lamath Basin have long been a source of political controversy. In 2004, the Interior Department’s inspector general found no basis for a claim by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry that White House political advisers interfered in developing water policy in the Klamath.
The inspector general said President Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, was not involved in a 2002 decision to divert water from the Klamath River in Oregon to irrigate farms.
Three months after Rove’s meeting in ea rly 20 02 , admin istration of f icia ls increased the water supply to more than 200,000 acres of farmland in California and Oregon — a decision bitterly opposed by environmentalists and commercial fishermen.
In September 2002, tens of thousands of chinook salmon died in the Klamath River in Northern California. The California Department of Fish and Game laid much of the blame on low water flows controlled by the federal government, saying it created conditions that allowed a fatal gill-rot disease to spread through the fish.
Dem House panel chair calls hearing into Cheney’s role in 2002 salmon die-off
The chairman of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee said Thursday his panel will hold a hearing into the role Vice President Dick Cheney may have played in the 2002 die-off of about 70,000 salmon in the Klamath River.
Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said the Democratic-led committee has been examining what he called the Bush administration’s ‘‘penchant to favor politics over science in the implementation of the Endangered Species Act.’’
The Klamath Water Users Association’s executive director, however, called it “another low for the national press and the politicians who are making this into a feeding frenzy.”
Greg Addington said Klamath Basin farmers and ranchers are being used as a weapon in a political fight that will have no positive results. He asked why, if Cheney was as influential in Klamath water policy in early 2001 as critics claim, water was shut off to farms and ranches that spring?
“The administration has made tremendous strides trying to help the environment while not eliminating agriculture in Klamath,” Addington said. “The record is pretty clear that more water has been dedicated to listed species, and more funding has been dedicated for restoration under this administration than under any previous administration.”
Water from the Klamath River is used on the 240,000-acre Klamath Reclamation Project in the Klamath Falls-Tulelake area. About 200,000 acres of the Project is irrigated.
Cheney blamed for fish kill
In light of allegations made about Cheney’s role in developing a 10-year water plan for the Klamath River that courts later called arbitrary and in violation of the Endangered Species Act, a hearing is worthwhile, Rahall said. He and other Democrats charged that Cheney’s action resulted in the largest adult salmon kill in the history of the West.
‘‘It certainly appears this administration will stop at nothing to achieve political gain from natural resources disasters,’’ Rahall said. ‘‘Ultimately, it will be hardworking Americans and their healthy environment that will lose if we fail to act.’’
West Coast Democrats called for the hearing Wednesday after the Washington Post reported that Cheney may have played a key role in the 2002 salmon die-off.
‘‘The ramifications of that salmon kill are still being felt today as returns to the Klamath River are so low that commercial, sport and tribal fishing seasons have been curtailed for the past three years,’’ 36 House Democrats said in a letter to Rahall calling for the hearing.
Commercial f ishing in California and Oregon was cut by more than 90 percent last year — the largest commercial fishing closure in the history of the country — resulting in more than $60 million in damage to coastal economies, the letter said.
Megan McGinn, a spokeswoman for the vice president’s office, said late Wednesday she had not seen the letter and could not comment.
Basin political controversy
The salmon die-off and water usage in the droughtplag ued K lamath Basin have long been a source of political controversy. In 2004, the Interior Department’s inspector general found no basis for a claim by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry that White House political advisers interfered in developing water policy in the Klamath.
The inspector general said President Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, was not involved in a 2002 decision to divert water from the Klamath River in Oregon to irrigate farms.
Three months after Rove’s meeting in ea rly 20 02 , admin istration of f icia ls increased the water supply to more than 200,000 acres of farmland in California and Oregon — a decision bitterly opposed by environmentalists and commercial fishermen.
In September 2002, tens of thousands of chinook salmon died in the Klamath River in Northern California. The California Department of Fish and Game laid much of the blame on low water flows controlled by the federal government, saying it created conditions that allowed a fatal gill-rot disease to spread through the fish.
Vice President Dick Cheney