Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski talks with reporters Tuesday after appearing at the Klamath Water Users Association's 50th annual meeting at Reames Country Club. Kulongoski reaffirmed his commitment to solving water problems in the Basin.

By DYLAN DARLING

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski said Tuesday he puts a high priority on solving water problems of the Klamath Basin in a way that keeps agriculture going.

"I've said it and I meant it," he said in a speech at the Klamath Water Users Association's 50th annual meeting at Reames Country Club.

His comments reaffirmed a pledge he made when he came to Klamath Falls in April 2003.

"We have to protect the jobs and the lives of people who have been in the Klamath Basin for generations," he said.
 

Speaking before about 200 people, including water users, city, county and state elected officials, and the chairman of the Klamath Tribes, Kulongoski said he will do everything in his power to avoid another summer like 2001, when federal managers curtailed water to the Klamath Project for most of the irrigation season.

"The time has come for predictability and stability," he said.

To usher in that time he said there needs to be more water storage, restoration of the Klamath River, and progress in the ongoing adjudication of water rights.

Kulongoski said people in the Basin depend on the abundance of their crops, but they can't count on a harvest if they can't count on their water.

Tapping the Basin's groundwater reserves are only a temporary fix for the problem, he said.

"There is a serious issue as to what is the capacity to take groundwater," Kulongoski said.

Like other politicians and leaders, Kulongoski said there needs to be a Basinwide approach to problems of the Basin. He said looking at it as a whole is "common sense."

Not only do the stakeholders in Southern Oregon and Northern California need to be in close contact, but so do the state and federal officials who manage and regulate resources, said David Vant Hoff, Kulongoski's sustainability policy advisor.

Vant Hoff said officials from the California and Oregon governors' offices have been meeting every few months about the issues in the Basin.

"If we can't get our own shop in order collectively, how are we supposed to expect stakeholders to do it?" he said.

Complicating things are crises such as last summer's near shut-off of irrigation water that break tenuous bonds, he added.

"Every time you have a crisis come up, everyone goes into their holes," Vant Hoff said.

Dan Keppen, the water users' executive director, said the Democratic governor was a speaker at the largely conservative association's annual meeting because he is not afraid to step across political lines to help solve the problem in a practical manner.

"He wants to help us," Keppen said. "That's all that matters."

At the meeting, Klamath County Commissioner Steve West read a letter from President Bush, in which he gave his support to agriculture interests in the Basin and to Kulongoski.

"It's pretty nice to have a president and a governor looking out for the Basin," Keppen said.

Kulongoski also gave his appreciation and condolences to the families of Marines Bryan Kelly and Gary Van Leuven, two Klamath Falls men killed in combat in Iraq.

After the meeting, Kulongoski meet with officials at Kingsley Field and went up in a F-15 Eagle jet fighter.

Today, the Governor had two breakfast dates, first with stakeholders in the water issue and then with the Klamath Tribes, and planned to walk down Main Street to talk with business owners. He also planned to visit NEW Corp's refurbished call center near Oregon Institute of Technology before he leaves town.