[env-trinity] Daily Triplicate: Yurok Tribe pulls out of Klamath River agreement

[Andrew Orahoske]

http://www.triplicate.com/News/Local-News/Yurok-Tribe-pulls-out-of-Klamath-River-agreement

*Yurok** Tribe pulls out of Klamath River agreement*

By Adam Spencer, The Triplicate
<aspencer at triplicate.com?subject=Yurok%20Tribe%20pulls%20out%20of%20Klamath%20River%20agreement>
September 17, 2015 04:28 pm

The historic agreement designed to end long-standing water wars between
fish advocates and farmers throughout the 16,000-square-mile Klamath River
Basin appears to be facing collapse.

On Tuesday, the Yurok Tribe — one of three key Klamath River Indian tribes
that have signed onto the consensus — announced it will be withdrawing from
the Klamath Agreements, which have not been able to get the U.S.
congressional approval needed for implementation.

“Unfortunately, Congress has failed to pass legislation authorizing the
agreements, and over time the bargained-for benefits of the agreements have
become unachievable. The Tribe is left with no choice other than to
withdraw from the Klamath Agreements,” states the Yurok Tribe’s Notice of
Withdrawal.

The Karuk Tribe and the Klamath Tribes of Oregon will also pull out from
the deal if the agreements continue to languish in Congress, according to
Craig Trucker, Klamath Coordinator for the Karuk Tribe. Calls to the
Klamath Tribes were not returned Wednesday.

The Klamath Agreements refer to the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement
(KBRA) and the politically connected Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement
Agreement (KHSA), which together would remove four aging hydroelectric dams
on the Klamath River and invest hundreds of millions of dollars for salmon
restoration into the basin while securing guaranteed water flows for
farmers in the basin.

Since 2014, the Klamath Agreements have also been connected to the Upper
Klamath Basin Comprehensive Agreement, which was negotiated between the
Klamath Tribes of Oregon — a single tribal government representing three
tribal peoples — and irrigators.  The agreement guaranteed 30,000 acre feet
of in-flows to Upper Klamath Lake benefitting endangered sucker fish in the
lake and downstream users as well as an economic development plan for
Klamath Tribes that would create a timber industry for the tribe.

That agreement was sought to bring stability to farmers and ranchers of the
Upper Klamath after the Klamath Tribes won the most senior water rights
above Upper Klamath Lake in March 2013.

In June 2013, Klamath Tribes exercised their newly-awarded rights by making
a call for water they are allocated, which during a drought year, meant
less or no water for junior water rights holders.

Although the 2014 agreement was heralded by Oregon’s governor and U.S.
senators as a historic compromise to heal the river basin and the people
that rely on it, the Yurok Tribe was left out of negotiations — despite
promises to the contrary — causing a bitter rift.

“The Upper Klamath Basin parties during negotiations of the KBRA had
assured the Yurok Tribe that they would address how the Tribe would be
involved in governance and technical forums in the Upper Klamath Basin. The
Tribe reminded various parties of this and requested to be involved in the
Upper Klamath Basin negotiations,” the Yurok Tribe’s notice states. “The
Tribe was not invited to participate in the negotiation of this agreement.
This represented a return to the old Oregon-California/Upper Klamath-Lower
Klamath division of the Klamath River system rather than the comprehensive
approach taken by the Klamath Agreements.”

The Yurok Tribe did not respond to request for comment regarding the notice
of withdrawal.

U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, a longtime supporter of the Klamath Agreements,
issued a statement saying he still believes that the accord is the “best
way forward” but that his patience is also wearing thin.

“While I am disappointed by the Yurok Tribe’s change of heart on the
Klamath agreements, I share their frustration with the lack of action in
Congress over the past three years,” Huffman’s statement said. “This
historic consensus effort to remove Klamath River dams and restore one of
the most important salmon rivers on the West Coast is premised on
congressional authorization, and as years tick by with little action by
Congress the obvious risk is that the stakeholder consensus starts to
unravel.”

Other parties closely involved with the Klamath Basin and its water
struggles believe the Klamath Agreements’ days are done.

“We consider these to be zombie agreements. They don't have a chance at
life. They just keep trucking along because the most powerful interests —
Pacificorp and the irrigators — really want them to pass, but they don't
really work,” said Jim McCarthy, communications director and southern
Oregon program manager for WaterWatch.

WaterWatch is a conservation group that was party to the Klamath Agreements
negotiations until being “involuntarily expelled,” along with Oregon Wild,
for disagreeing with the deal’s mandate of commercial farming in the
National Wildlife Refuges of the Upper Klamath, according to WaterWatch.

“These agreements don't work because they're based on make-believe water
and won't provide the flows that salmon need. They don't solve the
fundamental problem of over-appropriation in the basin. We need basinwide
water-use reduction,” said McCarthy.

McCarthy said that WaterWatch believes the four PacifiCorp owned dams on
the Klamath will be removed without legislation and hundreds of million in
taxpayer funds because it’s the most economically feasible option for the
power company, which would be required to install a costly fish ladder to
continue operation of the dams otherwise.

The hope of the Klamath Agreements passing has actually prevented the
relicensing process that would likely end in dam removal from moving
forward, McCarthy said. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been
allowing the dams to continue operation on temporary annual operating
licenses since 2006, when the long-term licenses expired and negotiations
for the Klamath Agreements first began.

PacifiCorp, which operates as Pacific Power in Oregon and California, has
already collected more than $1.1 million from Del Norte County ratepayers
for the removal of the four Klamath dams. Pacific Power has collected more
than $2.3 million for dam removal from ratepayers in Siskiyou County where
the Klamath Agreements have been akin to political kryptonite.

Some former Siskiyou County supervisors lost re-election campaigns due to
their support of the agreements. In a recent statement, Tucker said the
bills representing the Klamath Agreements have been stalled by Siskiyou
County’s congressional representative, Congressman Doug LaMalfa.

Although Tucker and the Karuk Tribe are still hoping to move forward with
Klamath Agreements legislations, they realize the political realities might
decide the deal’s fate for them.

“These drought years are really hard on the salmon and if Congress can't
get with the program and make it happen, we're going to do it through the
courts and better venues. You can't make laws with the Congress you want,
you have to make laws with the Congress you have,” Tucker said, adding that
the has nothing but respect for the Yurok Tribal Council and staff. “We do
respect the Yurok Tribe's decision to make a decision that they think is
right for them.”

Some see the Yurok Tribe's announcement as the first step in healing
division among Klamath River tribes that was created from the Klamath
Agreements.

Felice Pace, a longtime environmental activist of the Klamath River Basin
that maintains KlamBlog, a blog with Klamath River-related news, said he
was hopeful that the unity needed for true basin-wide restoration will be
restored.

"I am encouraged that the Yurok Tribe has taken this step because in my
opinion the tribe is much stronger when the three lower basin tribes are
united," Pace said.

Statements from the group, Honor the Treaty of 1864, a group of Klamath
Tribes members voicing opposing views from the Klamath Tribes' council
illustrates the divide:  "Many tribal members no longer have contact with
family and close friends over divisive and destructive KBRA politics.

“Others have been denied tribal employment based solely on their stance
regarding the dubious Klamath Basin water agreements," the Honor the Treaty
of 1864 statement says.  "The KBRA does nothing to heal historical and
spiritual damages for Klamath, Modoc, Yahooskin people. By securing water
primarily for agricultural purposes, the KBRA and associated documents
perpetuate these damages and continue to inflict pain, trauma and division
amongst our people."
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