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For Immediate
Release
Monday, June
21, 2004
Resources Committee to hold ESA Hearing on
The Klamath Project
Washington,
DC - House Resources Committee
Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) announced
today that the Committee will hold a field
hearing in Klamath Falls, Oregon on the
Endangered Species Act. The hearing, to be
held at
9:00 a.m.
on July 17 at the Ross Reglund
Theatre in downtown Klamath Falls, will
cover the Endangered Species Act's impact on
the Klamath Project, one of the nation's
oldest federal irrigation projects.
The Klamath
Project was the subject of international
coverage in 2001 when Endangered Species Act
regulations protecting sucker fish and coho
salmon forced the bulk of the project to
virtually shut down its water delivery
system for almost the entire growing
season. Local business leaders estimate
that the termination of water deliveries in
2001 inflicted $200 million worth of
economic damage on the Klamath
Basin community.
Although
federal and state efforts have focused on
resolving the situation, the Klamath project
was nearly shut down last summer because of
Endangered Species Act requirements.
Klamath irrigators face another dry summer
this year, prompting many worries of another
devastating irrigation water cut-off.
Meanwhile, a National Research Council
Report last year questioned some of the
underlying endangered species science behind
the 2001 shut down.
Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-CA), Chairman,
Committee on Resources
The water shut-off in the
Klamath
Basin is a dramatic example of how, after 30
years, the Endangered Species Act has failed
the species it was designed to recover.
Unintended consequences have devastated
communities. We must find a sound and
balanced approach, one that conserves
species while caring for our local
communities as well. This hearing is
specifically designed to discuss the abuse
of this law and to find a scientific
solution to
updating
and improving the ESA so that further
generations will not have to suffer as the
Klamath farmers have.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), Chairman,
Subcommittee on Water and Power
We owe the American people the very best
scientific answers when it comes to
balancing human water needs with endangered
species protection.
Time and
again, we have found that the Endangered
Species Act needs to be updated to both
improve species protection and provide
needed water to our farmers and cities.
When the science has been questioned by a
team of independent, qualified biologists
and that two conflicting species regulations
continue to provide environmental and water
use uncertainty in the Klamath basin, it's
our duty to help provide the roadmap to
resolution and this hearing will help
accomplish that.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), Chairman,
Subcommittee on Forests and
Forest
Health
Time and time again we have seen how the use
of questionable science in the
implementation of the Endangered Species Act
has thrown communities like the
Klamath Basin into economic upheaval with no
benefit to the threatened species. During
next month's hearing we will examine the
National Academy of Sciences final report
that repudiated the scientific justification
behind the 2001 water shut-off. Hopefully
by studying the Klamath Basin water crisis
and similar situations across the United
States, we can develop a blueprint for
making common sense improvements to the ESA
that benefit both species and property
owners.
Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
The Klamath basin farmers have suffered long
enough at the hands of bad science and an
inflexible Endangered Species Act (ESA). We
look forward to this hearing and the long
over-due investigation on the impacts of the
ESA and the recommendations from the
National Research Council.
Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA)
The 2001
Klamath
Basin water shut off was a tragedy that
could have, and should have been avoided.
Thanks to the diligence of biologists,
community leaders and the National Academy
of Sciences, we now know the demands for
water from our farmers is political, and
completely devoid of scientific grounding.
Now, more than three years later, the
Klamath farming community still faces
hardships resulting from the 2001 shut off.
Along with Congressmen Doolittle and Walden,
I requested this hearing to shed national
light on how speculation and a radical
agenda influenced the Klamath decision, and
how an inflexible Endangered Species Act
prevented any alternatives. I would like to
thank Chairman Pombo and Chairman Calvert
for agreeing to hold this hearing, and for
their continued support of sound science and
Klamath
Basin agriculture.
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