[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 161 (Tuesday, November 27, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  KLAMATH BASIN EMERGENCY OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE REFUND ACT OF 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. WALLY HERGER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 13, 2001

  Mr. HERGER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my friend and 
colleague from Oregon, Representative Greg Walden, for his hard work on 
this important piece of legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, the idea behind this bill is a simple one. Requiring 
Klamath Basin farmers, already beset by extreme financial hardship, to 
pay the costs of operating and maintaining the Klamath Project, from 
which they received no water this year, would simply add insult to an 
already serious injury.
  Unfortunately, this money is a mere drop in the bucket of the more 
than $220 million in financial suffering the family farmers and small 
business owners in this area have had to endure because of the 
Endangered Species Act. But it is important. It is important because it 
will provide a measure of economic relief to farmers and others 
struggling to survive financially in the face of this unmitigated 
government-caused disaster. It also sets an important policy that this 
Congress must continue to ardently pursue--that the federal government 
should be financially accountable for the economic and social harm it 
causes by virtue of its misguided regulatory decisions.
  Fortunately for the farmers on the California side of the Basin, 
earlier this year the State of California passed an emergency relief 
bill, which contained $3 million to compensate the Tulelake Irrigation 
District (TID) in California for its operation and maintenance costs 
(O&M). H.R. 2828 attempts to account for this state action. It includes 
language designed to offset any money due under its provisions against 
any other O&M reimbursement a qualifying entity may have otherwise 
received pursuant to state law.
  This intent behind this provision is narrow. It seeks only to prevent 
any water district that may have already received an O&M reimbursement, 
including the TID, from receiving a second payment. Congress continues 
to recognize that the TID and other California farmers were subject to 
the same zero water decision as those farmers who will receive 
compensation under H.R. 2828 and, as such, have suffered the same and 
equally difficult financial hardships.
  As such, the policies and principles underlying H.R. 2828 should 
apply equally as to Klamath Basin water districts. Accordingly, the 
record should reflect that H.R. 2828 obligates the Secretary to treat 
any district that may have been reimbursed for O&M the same in all 
respects under the bill as those not receiving such state benefits, and 
to continue working in good faith with the TID to relieve any and all 
other burdens associated with federal O&M for the 2001 water year.
  Again, I would like to thank my colleague for his work on this bill, 
and I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

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