[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 2, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H1829-H1830]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   ECONOMIC DISASTER IN KLAMATH BASIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WALDEN of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst of an economic 
disaster in the Klamath Basin of Oregon that demands the attention of 
Congress and this country.
  The good people of this Basin were lured there by a promise made by 
the Federal Government nearly a century ago: ``Come settle the West, 
and we will provide you with land and water; produce food for our 
Nation, secure our western expansion, and we will reward you.''
  Moreover, the government gave first priority to the men and women who 
fought for our Nation's freedom in World War I and World War II. Yes, 
our veterans who risked life and limb were rewarded, indeed enticed, to 
help the government reclaim the land and feed the country.
  In 1905, the newly created Bureau of Reclamation started construction 
of the Klamath Reclamation Project on the land surrounding Upper and 
Lower Klamath Lakes in Oregon. It is on the Oregon-California border. 
The project, using dams, canals and ditches, brought water to the arid 
land.
  Three years later, President Theodore Roosevelt designated our 
country's first national wildlife refuge in the Klamath Basin. 
Roosevelt understood and supported the need for irrigated agriculture 
and the interrelationship the project had with the refuge.
  For years, farming and wildlife coexisted beneficially. Water from 
the project fed into the refuge, and farmers grew crops that in part 
were available for the birds. A resurgence of bald eagles occurred.
  Today, of all this is threatened; the quality of the refuge, the 
livelihood of the farmers. Why? Because over time the government has 
passed new laws that reallocate the water in more ways than there is 
water. And on April 6, the Bureau of Reclamation announced for the 
first time in this country's history, there would be no water for 
farmers. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. The headgates would remain closed. The 
canals would remain dry. The farmers were on their own.
  Suckers, that is right, sucker fish, in Upper Klamath Lake now had to 
be saved at all costs. Higher lake levels were set. Meanwhile, other 
biologists said more water must flow down the Klamath River to help 
threatened salmon runs. More water in the lake.

[[Page H1830]]

More water in the river. But no water for farmers.
  The Endangered Species Act is supposed to have a reasonable and 
prudent test, so I ask you, is it reasonable and prudent to bankrupt 
nearly 2,000 farm families? Is it reasonable and prudent to bring 
economic disaster to an entire basin? Is it a reasonable and prudent 
operations plan for the project to not operate the project? Monday, a 
Federal Court basically said yes.
  Well, I could not disagree more, and these new requirements are 
anything but reasonable and prudent for the farming families and the 
communities in the Klamath Basin.
  So today we are facing a disaster, and today we must decide as a 
Nation if we are going to pass laws for the ``benefit'' of the whole 
country; then, if those laws bring about the demise of a few, the whole 
Nation needs to compensate the few for their loss.
  So I am proceeding with aggressive efforts to get disaster relief to 
the farmers and others in the Basin who are living this hardship every 
day. I am also working closely with the Bush administration to step up 
efforts to add to the water storage in the Basin, so that fish and 
farmers will have adequate supplies in the years ahead.
  If the government is going to allocate more water than it has, then 
it darn well better figure out how to keep its commitment by adding to 
the storage.
  I commend the gentleman from Utah (Chairman Hansen) for appointing a 
bipartisan task force to look into the Endangered Species Act and how 
it is affecting people and communities. Today I have asked him to use 
the situation in the Klamath Basin specifically as a perfect example of 
the problem we face.
  Too often in the past, the Federal Government has set the standards 
and then gotten in the way of our ability to achieve them. Today, I met 
with Federal officials and urged them to let Oregonians have more say 
in how we meet Federal laws. What we need most right now is for the 
Federal Government to work with us, not against us; to stand up for 
balance, not disaster.
  This administration has tried in vain to find a way to provide water 
to farmers this year, but they were boxed in by the unworkable 
requirements of the Endangered Species Act. They have inherited a mess, 
but at least they are working with us to bring a change.
  From the dust bowl and disaster that will result this summer perhaps 
will rise the change that is so needed and so overdue. We should never 
have ended up in this place.
  Perhaps the recognition will come that people and communities must be 
part of any successful effort to improve our environment and not simply 
double-crossed and run off the land.

                          ____________________