Time to Take Action
Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
 

 
Six reasons to support Measure G
 
By Petey Brucker, Siskiyou Daily News letter to the editor Oct 28, 2010
 
KBC NOTE: Following this letter is excerpt from: Chadwick comes to Chiloquin, July 2005, Petey explains his agenda and his role in eliminating people from these areas
Dear Editor,

This letter is to dear friends and voters of Siskiyou County:

I come to you with a clear conscience in asking you to vote YES on measure G in the Nov. 2, 2010 Siskiyou County elections. I have been very closely involved in the negotiations related to dam removal agreements (KBRA and KHSA) since they began in 2005 with PacifiCorp requesting us to meet with them in confidentiality. I was proud to sign these agreements in February 2010 in Salem, as they articulate the best available solution from local, state, federal and tribal parties of the upper and lower river communities who have historically been steeped in conflict and litigation, fighting over Klamath River water.

I must clarify a couple of glaring bits of mis-information being spread around our county by those who do not promote your Yes vote on Measure G. It’s important for you to cast your vote based on the facts rather than be led by those who would rather you vote out of fear based on fictitious information. These clarifications include:

1) According to the owner, PacifiCorp, in the official relicensing record with FERC, these reservoirs do not provide for flood control. The reservoirs behind the dams are much too small to serve us in this way. Flash floods did in the Klamath River daily before Iron Gate Dam was completed in 1963, as daily pulses of water were released by the power company to produce power for peak demand periods each day. PacifiCorp can sell this “peaked” power for much more money.

2) Spring Chinook salmon, once thought to be the largest run of salmon in the Klamath River Basin, with much of the run historically spawning above Iron Gate Dam and into the Upper Basin, will greatly benefit from the removal of these dams. Access to these historical spawning and rearing habitats has been blocked for 50 to 100 years.

3) Dam removal will cost PacifiCorp’s ratepayers less than installing the more costly fish passage measures. This is supported by the recent determination by the Oregon Public Utility Commission. FERC asserts that relicensing the dams with mandated mitigation measures for fish passage would result in a $20-million-a-year deficit for PacifiCorp, which would likely be passed on to their ratepayers to pay for.

4) These privately owned facilities cause severe problems for fish by impeding fish migration; altering flow regimes in ways that damage habitat and alter run timing; contribute to disease problems; and degrade water quality.

5) These dams produce a relatively small amount of energy and will be replaced with clean energy production sources, according to PacifiCorp.

6) They provide no irrigation or drinking water diversions.

In conclusion, I encourage you to vote Yes on Measure G to support the removal of the Klamath Hydroelectric Project, as this is the most sensible and available choice for the future of Siskiyou County.
 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chadwick comes to Chiloquin Indians, government agencies, environmentalists and farmers meet by Klamath Courier Reporter posted to KBC 7/17/05

excerpt from: Chadwick comes to Chiloquin
Indians, government agencies, environmentalists and farmers meet by Klamath Courier Reporter July 13, 2005

The environmentalists spoke, unveiling their strategies

Mr. P is Petey Brucker

"Mr. P came to the Salmon River, a tributary of the Klamath River, 30
years ago. (He and Felice Pace formed the Klamath Forest Alliance.) He
said he must protect the watershed and the community. He said with
western expansion, trappers killed animals and gold miners killed
Indians. Mining damaged the rivers. The Forest Service excluded fire,
which ruined the natural process. Farmers and ranchers dewatered
wetlands, which reduced habitat. Farm chemicals ruin water quality and
cows damage riverbanks and water quality. Logging was purely greed for
money, ruining public trust. Loggers believe that "the only good tree is
a stump."

Mr. P. said it is his duty to make sure industry and business do not
further destroy forests, and he supports regulations like the Endangered
Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and Clean Water Act, to
slow society; "regulations curb greed and destruction."
(If you look on a Wildlands Map, you will see dots covering most of the
Western United States.) Mr. P said that he, through Klamath Forest
Alliance, helps map corridors and core areas. These are the areas
targeted by the ESA (which lacks peer review), NEPA, and Clean Water
Act, to eliminate people from these areas. He said that the process took
a long time through the Klamath Task Force, however listing coho salmon
as endangered helped the process.

Water is over-allocated, said Mr. P. He does not believe in storing
water, because he feels it will allow less water down the river, and
storage will cause fish diseases. And he wants the tribes to acquire the
Forests.

The reason he does not like the water bank, which will take 100,000 acre
feet of water from the irrigators this year to send down the Klamath
River, is because he thinks water should not be privatized. The Klamath
River dams should be taken out. He is involved in the Klamath Basin
Fisheries Task Force and monitors the river. He said that TMDL's, the
regulations for water quality, and support of "restoration" will help
achieve his goals.

He said he supports the Chadwick process, because it will allow the
environmentalists to be heard."

 

 

Home Contact

 

              Page Updated: Monday November 01, 2010 02:06 AM  Pacific


             Copyright © klamathbasincrisis.org, 2010, All Rights Reserved