[env-trinity] Hoopa Rejects Klamath Deal

[TBedros765 at aol.com]

Media Contacts: Clifford Lyle Marshall (530) 625-4211 ext. 161
Mike  Orcutt (530) 625-4267 ext. 13
Tom Schlosser (206) 386-5200

HOOPA  VALLEY TRIBE REJECTS KLAMATH RIVER DEAL BECAUSE IT
LACKS ASSURED WATER FOR  FISH

Hoopa, Calif. – The Hoopa Valley Tribe of northern California will  not 
endorse
the latest draft of the Klamath River Basin Restoration Agreement  (KRBRA) 
because the
agreement lacks adequate water assurances for fish.  Despite being in the 
minority among
the negotiators, Tribal Chairman Clifford  Lyle Marshall said Hoopa would 
never waive
its fishery-based water rights, as  demanded by federal and other 
negotiators, in a deal
providing no assurances  for fisheries restoration.

“What began as dam removal negotiations got  turned into a water deal.
PacifiCorp left the room two years ago and  negotiations with the company 
have since
been separate from this negotiation.  The terms of this so-called restoration 
agreement
make the right to divert  water for irrigation the top priority, trumping 
salmon water needs
and the  best available science on the river,” Marshall said. “Such an 
upside down  deal
threatens the goal of restoration and the Hoopa Tribe’s fishing rights,”  
Hoopa
Councilman Joe LeMieux said. “We cannot waive the rights of generations  to 
come.
Dangling a carrot like this will not work for Hoopa.”

The  Hoopa objections come after three years of negotiations with farm  
irrigators,
environmental and fishing groups, government agencies, counties,  and other 
tribes. The
Tribe has been a leading advocate to protect water  rights and fish habitat 
in the Klamath
and Trinity rivers that run through  their reservation. “We have worked for 
years with all
the parties to forge an  agreement that genuinely restores Klamath River 
salmon  habitat.
Unfortunately, this deal locks away too much water for irrigators  with no 
recourse for
salmon when the fish need more water. Salmon need enough  water, plain and 
simple,”
he said.

Marshall said the proposed billion  dollar deal altogether ignores the 
National
Academy of Science’s  recommendations in its November 2007 report on the U.S. 
-
contracted Hardy  Phase II Instream Flow Assessment in the Klamath River.
Congressional members  have urged the use of the Hardy Report to protect coho 
salmon
from jeopardy.  Marshall said the deal also dismisses the only independent 
scientific
reviews  of the agreement itself. “This latest draft is not a modern 
science-based  river
restoration plan. It looks more like an old West irrigation deal,  guarantees 
for irrigators,
empty promises for the Indians.”

The Tribal  Chairman also said that agreement proponents talk about helping 
the
river’s  fish, but no real fisheries restoration objectives, standards, or 
assurances are  in the
agreement. “Some parties seem to think there’s no other way to remove  the 
dams. The
declining fish population tells us the river is being  compromised to death. 
Hoopa will
retain its rights to defend the Klamath. We  will work with any and all 
parties to remove
the dams and assure a restored  healthy river.” ###





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