Herald and News Sept 12, 2004

I would like to express my opinion concerning the Cob power plant.

The Oregon Water Resources Department must know how short water is in Klamath County. I went to water adjudication meetings for more than two years when the department was sponsoring them. All the politicians and bureaucrats, farmers, Klamath Indians, greenies, hydrologists and others could not agree on a consensus.

Since the power plant developers came to Oregon and wanted special treatment (an enterprise zone) and to pay no taxes for at least 15 years, if and when they build this natural gas electrical power plant, then this is a bummer.

It is my opinion that the agencies and others pushing the power plant could be sent to the Department of Justice because they made such a mess of the contested hearing. Cathy Van Horn is pushing from the Oregon Department of Energy, which, in my opinion, has bent over backward to accommodate the power plant.

Next, the Fish and Wildlife Department is saying that it is OK to build a transmission line through wildlife habitat.

Two Klamath County Commissioners, Al Switzer and John Elliott, I believe, want to give away the enterprise zone to the Cob plant. Then the city of Klamath Falls wants to vote and probably will give the power plant the enterprise zone.

Oregon Water Resources Department is all-powerful when it gives prior water rights or water rights to a new industry, but in the meantime just might be corrupting the system.

I say that because there may not be enough water in some Klamath County streams, and it leaves something to be desired because many of the streams are over-allocated. The streams and the irrigation systems are very complex in Klamath County.

I believe almost anyone with any common sense understands you should build an industrial plant such the Cob plant in an industrial zone.

Thank goodness for Clif McMil-lan with his endeavor to put the power plant to a vote.

Nancy R. Roeder

Klamath Falls