"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Christian Pastor executed by Nazi Germany 1945

***Klamath Dam Removal, current and failed agreements, related articles, letters, videos, press releases, documents, and Who's Who

KBC's KRRC / Klamath River Renewal Corporation (Dam Destruction Group) Page
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Court upholds Klamath Tribes' water rights, irrigators plan to challenge, H&N, posted to KBC 3/1/2020. "...Paul Simmons, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, said Klamath Project irrigators are largely unaffected by the decision, as a settlement prevents the Tribes from using water rights in Oregon to curtail deliveries to the Project from Upper Klamath Lake..."

Klamath Irrigation District Special Winter Edition, February 2021: KID litigation, Drought, Interior Opinion, OWRD litigation, 2021 water year analysis, etc...

New Court Ruling Could Prevent Curtailments of Irrigation in Upper Klamath Lake Tributaries, KWUA News Advisory, posted to KBC 3/1/2021. "The ruling has no immediate consequences for Klamath Project irrigators. Administratively-recognized water rights in Upper Klamath Lake cannot be asserted against the Klamath Project under an agreement made several years ago. Klamath Project irrigators have the right to contest the quantification of that right later in the court phase."

Oregon Court Affirms Klamath Tribes’ Water Rights, Klamath Tribes News Release, posted to KBC 3/1/2021. "Wednesday's order...affirmed the senior priority date of the Klamath Tribes’ water rights in the Klamath Basin, and upheld the need to maintain a healthy and productive habitat to meet the Tribes’ treaty right to fish, hunt, trap, and gather..."

Grazing rights rescinded for Hammond ranches, H&N, posted to KBC 3/1/2021
The Hammond family's BLM grazing permits - an easy target for environmental extremist NGO's, Protect the Harvest. "

Dept of Interior NEWS RELEASE - Interior Department Welcomes Newest Members of Leadership Team, Posted to KBC 3/1/21. (Read their Bios!)
* Shakiyya Bland, Ed.D. - Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, Office of the Secretary
* Daniel Cordalis - Deputy Solicitor, Water
* Nada Culver - Deputy Director, Policy and Programs, Bureau of Land Management
* Bryan Newland - Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs

USFWS acts to remove land from critical habitat for owl, CFBF Ag Alert, posted to KBC 3/1/21. "...The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said last week it would revise the designation of critical habitat for the owl, to exclude nearly 3.5 million acres of land in California, Oregon and Washington...The action leaves more than 6.1 million acres of land in the three states designated as critical habitat for the owl, which has been protected under the ESA as a threatened species since 1990."

Upper Klamath Lake forecast looking poor for fish and farms, H&N, posted to KBC 3/1/21. "Klamath Tribes have filed a notice of intent, saying they will sue the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for violating the Endangered Species Act if Upper Klamath Lake dips below levels outlined in the 2020 biological opinion this spring...'We know that we’re in a very serious situation,' (Klamath Tribal Chairman) Gentry said. 'It looks like there’s going to be very little water, if at all, for irrigation.' ”

Klamath dam removal and the government’s fraudulent survey, by retired judge Bob Kaster for Siskiyou Daily News 2/17/21. "...In my opinion, (the survey) was fraudulent...Dam removal proponents intended to use the survey result to convince the Secretary of the Interior and then the U.S. Congress to authorize dam removal. When Congress didn’t bite, the proponents changed the thrust of their attack to go around Congress and to ram it through unelected bureaucratic agencies instead, such as the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC), and the California Public Utilities Commission, which is where we are now..."

Letter from Rex Cozzalio, Hornbrook, to FERC regarding Klamath Dam removal and license transfer, posted to KBC 2/18/21

Family Farm Alliance Virtual Conference Schedule Feb 28-29, 2021. A wide array of speakers and panelists, a few being FFA Executive Director Dan Keppen, President Pat O'Toole, National Farmer's Union, Farm Bureau, EDF/Environmental Defense Fund, Gov't Affairs and Sustainability, farmers, forest reps, DOI, Cal. Senator Brian Dahle, FWA Nadine Bailey, many more...

Simpson's salmon recovery, (Snake River) dam breaching plan a 'nonstarter,' ag reps say, Capital Press, posted to KBC 2/18/2021. “Unfortunately, the idea of Snake River dam breaching is a non-starter when it comes for how we move cargo and ultimately for our energy portfolio,” she said. Taking out the dams would make that stretch of the Snake River impassable for barge traffic...Stakeholders also say breaching the dams won’t achieve salmon recovery, pointing to fish declines along the West Coast due to ocean temperatures, runoff and other factors...Barging is the most carbon-friendly mode of transportation, Hennings said...Switching to trucks and trains would likely increase carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions by over 1.25 million tons per year..."

PRESS RELEASE and letter to FERC - Opposition to Transfer of Klamath River Hydropower Dams and Their Destruction, by E. Werner Reschke, Oregon St Rep District 56, posted to KBC 2/17/21. "Rep. Reschke has opposed dam removal from beginning concept, as local elections in Siskiyou County, California (2014) and in Klamath County, Oregon (2016) show that 75% of the people directly effected by dam removal oppose this action."

*** Deadline for filing with FERC comments, motions to intervene, and protests to FERC: February 15, 2021.

*   Make your voice count; Write to FERC by Feb 15 regarding Klamath dam removal, Siskiyou Daily News by Chrissie Reynolds, posted to KBC 2/11/21 *   Hornbrook Rancher Rex Cozzalio refutes Karuk spokesman Craig Tucker's claim of no drinking water or significant irrigation diversions downstream of Klamath Dams, by Rex Cozzalio 2/10/2021 Tucker's comment on Klamath Basin Crisis Facebook page was in response to Seattle Times article regarding failures of Elwha dam destruction *   More than 10 years of Klamath Dam Destruction opinions, articles, press releases, polls, videos, letters, speeches. *    FYI, go to this link on more of dam engineer Stephen Koshy's information of the imminent catastrophic collapse of these clay-core hydroelectric dams if there is an attempt to remove them. Included is his biography.

Siskiyou County Water Users Association MOTION TO LEAVE TO INTERVENE for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Klamath (P-2082-063) and Lower Klamath (P-14803) Projects, Regarding Notice of Application for Surrender of License (of Klamath Hydroelectric dams) posted to KBC 2/10/2021

PCFFA Petition for Intervention in FERC Klamath Project (dams) license surrender, posted to KBC 2/10/2021. KBC's PCFFA Page

LaMalfa Praises Bureau of Reclamation’s New Science-Based Regulation of Klamath Basin, posted to KBC 2/10/2021

Oregon Supreme Court: Order denying petition for Writ of Mandamus and dismissing motion to stay, signed by Martha L. Walters, Chief Justice, Supreme Court 2/2/2021. In KID vs OWRD, The supreme court denied OWRD stay. They must abide by Judge Bennett's order and take over the Link River dam and abide by Oregon Law.

Feds reassess Klamath Project water delivery obligations, Capital Press, posted to KBC 2/4/2021. "Agency finds no legal right to curtail water deliveries under ESA, as in the past"...."Biden has nominated Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., as Interior secretary. If confirmed, she would be the first Native American cabinet secretary and head of the Interior Department."

Port Angeles, tribe say Elwha water plant never worked, still doesn’t, Seattle Times 7/16/16. "Two dams built beginning in 1910 on the Elwha backed up large reservoirs that acted as giant settling ponds, and impounded sediment carried by the river during the 100 years the dams were in place. In September 2014, the world’s largest ever dam-removal project was completed and, with the dams out, the river is free, once more, to wander its flood plain, and release sediment..."

Feds plan to update guidance for Klamath Project operations, H&N, posted to KBC 2/4/2021.

Bureau of Reclamation NEWS RELEASE - Reclamation releases water reliability in the West report 1/19/21

KWUA NEWS RELEASE: Bureau of Reclamation updates guidance for Klamath Project Operations under Endangered Species Act and water law 1/19/2021. “...Reclamation has found that it still has duties for species protection, but those duties do not include imposing harmful shortages on irrigation as we have seen in the past...”

Newsom appoints Yurok attorney Amy Cordalis of McKinleyville to California Water Commission, Times Standard, posted to KBC 1/19/2021. "...Cordalis is a member of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation Board of Directors..."

KID wins again, Oregon Court of Appeals, KID vs OWRD posted 1/17/2021. OWRD's/Oregon Water Resources Department's motion for stay is now "moot". Judge Bennett's order, that OWRD must not allow stored water in Klamath Lake reserved for irrigation to be illegally used or dumped into the ocean, is not currently appealable.

Matthew 5:9 - "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God"

***ANOTHER WIN FOR KID / KLAMATH IRRIGATION DISTRICT, KID vs OWRD:
Judge Bennett Order on Motion for Reconciliation posted to KBC 1/12/20. DENIED. Judge Bennett's ORDER: "Respondents' (OWRD) Motion restates their misapprehension of this courts Orders in 20CV17922 and 20CV15606. Respondents' accepted exclusive jurisdiction over the UKL pursuant to ORS 540.210. Respondents are required by that statute to divide and distribute the water therefrom in accordance with the respective and relative rights of the various users. Despite this statutory obligation, Respondents have continued to allow the Bureau of Reclamation to take Stored Water without determining the Bureau's right to do so. The Respondents continue to violate the Oregon Water Rights Act by allowing the Bureau to take and use Stored Water in the UKL without determining it is entitled to do so as required by ORS 540.210. Respondents must stop the release until a determination is made pursuant to ORS 540.740. Nothing in the Court's Order dictates how the Respondents make the determination or what criteria is used. TPC, LLC v. OWRD, 308 Or.App. 177 is not analogous or factually similar to this case. MAKE A DETERMINATION"

FERC/Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 12/16/20 NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR SURRENDER OF LICENSE, posted 1/12/21. This is notice from FERC re request by KRRC and PacifiCorp to transfer license AND DECOMMISSION Klamath River hydroelectric dams.
*** Deadline for filing comments, motions to intervene, and protests to FERC: February 15, 2021

Farmers make crop plans amid dry early winter, CFBF Ag Alert, posted to KBC 1/12/2021. "For the federal Klamath Water Project straddling the California-Oregon border, farmer Ben DuVal of Tulelake said he is hopeful 2021 will be a better year. Last year, Klamath farmers were affected after project operators unexpectedly cut already-low allocations in response to concerns about protected fish; the cuts were ultimately restored. "Things have been so bad here on the Klamath Project, and it doesn't have to be this way," DuVal said. "We use 3% of the water out of the Klamath River and we take that small percentage and do a lot of good with it. We put a lot of people to work and produce a lot of amazing crops. People are going to have to eventually realize that all the problems on the Klamath River cannot be blamed solely on the Klamath Project, and that we can move on from some of the issues that we've been dealing with."

ODFW formally assumes management of gray wolf in Oregon 1/5/21

For December 2020 chronological news, see Archive 223

For Main Archive Page go HERE.

God Bless America !