[env-trinity] Hoopa Tribe vs. NRDC

[TBedros765 at aol.com]

Media Contacts:     Danny Jordan               (530) 625-4211 
               Mike Orcutt               (530) 625-4267 ext. 13
               Tod Bedrosian           (916) 421-5121

HOOPA VALLEY TRIBE QUESTIONS NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL’S STAND ON SAN 
JOAQUIN RIVER SETTLEMENT 


Hoopa, Calif. – The Natural Resource Defense Council’s (NRDC) support for 
the Congressional settlement (H.R. 24) of the San Joaquin River lawsuit is at 
odds with its commitment to environmental justice and will short change the 
restoration efforts of the Trinity River in Humboldt County, according to Danny 
Jordan, one of the water negotiators for the Hoopa Valley Tribe. “We are the 
only ones we know with a substantial stake in Central Valley Project 
environmental restoration programs who were denied a seat at the table during months of 
negotiations that concluded with a settlement bill being introduced,” said 
Jordan. 

The mission statement of the NRDC calls for minorities to be relieved of the “
disproportionate burden” environmental abuses inflicted on their communities “
So it is very sad that we were neither seen nor heard until others had made a 
decision at the expense of our environment,” said Jordan, whose reservation 
is bisected by the Trinity River and whose fishery is protected as a federal 
trust asset. 

Jordan said the Department of the Interior has recognized the San Joaquin 
settlement will cause an annual reduction of up to a 25 percent in funds 
available from the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) restoration fund. “
Implementation of the San Joaquin River settlement should not come at the 
expense of ongoing CVPIA environmental restoration activities or the federal trust 
responsibility to our tribe expressly recognized in the CVPIA,” said Jordan. 

The tribe has provided Congress and the settlement parties with proposed 
amendments that would protect the interests of Trinity River restoration without 
affecting the core principles of the settlement. “We think this can be resolved 
with a good faith effort on all sides” said Jordan. “Unfortunately,’ he 
added, “time is running short so we have to act soon.”

-30-



**************************************
 Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at 
http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20070831/879ca51c/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: NRDCPR8-27.doc
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 23838 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20070831/879ca51c/attachment.obj>