Dan Berman, Land
Letter editor
Returning water to the Klamath River for fishing and recreation could
provide a far greater economic benefit in the Klamath Basin than the
current practice of diverting it for farmland irrigation, a draft U.S.
Geological Survey report says.
USGS released the
draft report <http://www.earthjustice.org/news/documents/klamath%20recreation.pdf>
last week after it was leaked to the Wall Street Journal and
several environmental organizations. It estimates restoring historic water
flows to the Klamath River would generate an economic benefit 30 times
greater than providing the water to farmers.
Klamath Water Users Association President Dan Keppen disputed the
report's findings, calling the survey "a theoretical exercise" and
criticizing the "draconian" measures necessary to transform the river into
a recreation paradise.
The measures include:
- the purchase of all Klamath Irrigation Project farmland;
- acquiring sensitive forestland along the Klamath River and
tributaries;
- removing dams along the Klamath River; and
- increasing Trinity River flows by 500,000 acre-feet annually by
taking irrigation supplies from California's Central Valley.
Those actions would cost about $5 billion, the USGS report said, but
recreation and fishing activities could create about $36 billion in
economic activity.
Keppen added the report assumes immediate and automatic benefits to the
river and the economy. "I can see why USGS did not publicly release this
draft report," he said. "It provides no explanation whatsoever for how the
radical restoration measures it proposes will improve the fishing and
habitat conditions in the river."
This is the second week in a row environmentalists and fishermen in the
Klamath Basin have accused the Bush administration of attempting to impose
its political will on the debate over water allocation there. Last week, a
National Marine Fisheries Service biologist filed a whistleblower
complaint accusing the agency of submitting to political pressure to
approve a plan guaranteeing full water deliveries to Klamath Irrigation
Project farmers for 10 years despite repeated findings that lower water
levels in the Klamath River could jeopardize the threatened coho salmon (
Land
Letter <http://www.eenews.net/Landletter/searcharchive/test_search-display.cgi?q=&file=%2FLandletter%2Fsearcharchive%2Flandletter%2F2002%2FOct31%2F10310205.htm>,
Oct. 31).
The USGS study of the Klamath Basin began in the late 1990s, before the
spring 2001 drought ignited furious debates over how much water should be
delivered to basin farmers. However, environmentalists, fishermen and
Indian tribes who are fighting the Bureau of Reclamation's plan to give
full deliveries to farmers through 2012 claim the report was likely
suppressed by the Bush administration to stifle opposition.
"The reason this is so significant is the administration has said their
policy in the Klamath Basin is putting people and the economy first, and
it turns out that they're doing the opposite," said Steve Pedery of Oregon
WaterWatch.
"We've heard a lot about 'sound science' from this administration. It's
increasingly clear that when they say 'sound' science, they mean science
that 'sounds good' to their political allies and contributors," added Jim
Waltman of the Wilderness Society. "Without lasting access to all the good
data that are available, the effort to find lasting solutions in the
Klamath is doomed to fail."
Pedery said environmentalists suspected the administration was
attempting to rig the debate over withholding water from farmers for
endangered fish earlier this year. "The Bush administration made it quite
clear they were going to reverse that policy," Pedery said. "What is
surprising is the number of people willing to put their careers on the
line to call foul on it. In an issue as politically charged as the
Klamath, filing a whistleblower suit or leaking a report is a serious
issue."
But Keppen said the report's speculative nature renders it useless.
"Clearly you cannot use this report as a basis in a policy discussion,"
Keppen said. "They would be out of their heads" to do so, he added.
USGS Colorado officials did not return calls for comment by press time.
Click here <http://www.earthjustice.org/news/documents/klamath%20recreation.pdf>
to download the USGS draft economic report.