[env-trinity] Wall Street Journal - Chairman Clifford Lyle Marshall

[Byron Leydecker]

Another excellent and constructive commentary by Chairman Marshall of the
Hoopa Valley Tribe.


Wall Street Journal

April 19, 2004

Program:  Ecosystem Restoration

Headline: LETTER:



The Great Central Valley Water Battle



Your March 17 story about the renewal of water contracts in California's
Central Valley ("Is Water Too Cheap?  As Contract Renewals Loom
Environmentalists, Environmentalists, Tax Group Call for Farmers to Pay
More") illuminated some interesting aspects about the cost of "cheap water"
in our state.  But it completely overlooked one of those costs.



As chairman of Northern California's Hoopa Valley Tribe, I have watched my
tribe and the Trinity River, which bisects our reservation, pay dearly for
the water that has been taken from us and sent to irrigation and hydropower
users. This water theft has been going on for 40 years

despite the assurances of Congress in the 1950s that enough water would be
left to keep our water quality healthy and our fishery productive. Now the
fish are dying, threatening our livelihood, and causing economic devastation
in Pacific Coast communities from Coos Bay, Ore., to San Francisco Bay.



Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt signed an agreement in 2000 with our
tribe for enough water to restore the Trinity River. In that agreement we
gave 53% of the Trinity River's flow to the Central Valley, but that was not
enough to satisfy the thirst for subsidized water. The Westlands Water
District promptly sued to block fishery restoration. We have been fighting
them

in court for four years, while watching the river and fish suffer.



The federal commitment to the Trinity fishery has waned under the Bush
administration's stewardship. A year and a half ago, a federal court
concluded that the Department of the Interior had breached its trust
responsibility to our tribe for neglecting the fishery.  Nonetheless, the
administration's agenda to renew subsidized Central Valley water contracts
remains on a fast track, because, it asserts, to do otherwise would drive
agribusiness giants out of business.



Congress and President Bush should keep faith with the federal government's
promise to our people and the Trinity River. They should tell Westlands that
no Central Valley water contracts will be signed until there is enough water
to rehabilitate the Trinity River.



Clifford Lyle Marshall, Chairman

Hoopa Valley Tribe

Hoopa, Calif.

Byron Leydecker
Chairman, Friends of Trinity River
Consultant, California Trout, Inc,
PO Box 2327
Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327
415 383 4810 ph
415 519 4810 cell
415 383 9562 fx
bwl3 at comcast.net
bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org (secondary)
http://www.fotr.org
http://www.caltrout.org

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