[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 87 (Wednesday, May 19, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H2554-H2555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          THE KLAMATH PROJECT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. LaMalfa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I want to speak a little while today on 
the issue going on with the Klamath Basin, which straddles Northern 
California and Southern Oregon, and the water supply that has been a 
long-time issue and dispute up there for many purposes, agriculture, 
hydroelectric power, and endangered fish species, and how these are 
going to be shared, adjudicated, et cetera.
  Currently, the battle in the basin there is how waters can be 
delivered to agriculture. Last year, in 2020, the situation was very 
dire where, initially, 140,000 acre-feet was promised to the growers up 
there. And then they went ahead and started their planning process. 
They had their crops in the field based on that number. The Bureau of 
Reclamation decided they were going to pull that back and not deliver 
that water.
  We were able to work with the Department of the Interior and restore 
that water so that the crops that are already in the field planted 
would not die, that massive investment and massive loss to the farmers 
and to the community would not happen.
  This year, we have a similar path. In March, the Bureau estimated 
they would deliver 130,000 acre-feet of water, 10,000 acre-feet less 
than last year. This of a water right that belongs in the basin of 
390,000 acre-feet when fully delivered.
  And that is where we need to really discuss this today, is that we 
are talking about the elevation of the lake here. We have, at the full 
mark, 4,143.3 elevation is a maximum lake. The project goes as low as 
4,136 right down here. So that represents a heck of a lot of water. The 
farmer's share of this, the 561 is the 390,000 I had mentioned. 
Currently, the lake sits at 4,140.4 feet of elevation, so that 
represents availability of 307,000 acre-feet of water supply.
  Now, the species of fish that we are talking about here are the 
longnose sucker fish that is in the lake. It lives in the lower part, 
the brown area of the lake there. And that is where it is best-suited. 
It is a bottom-feeding fish.
  So the problem is that the Bureau of Reclamation, taking the cue from 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife, has decided that the water that belongs to the 
farmers has been adjudicated over time. The Oregon courts have held 
that these water rights do belong to agriculture. This is after NEPA 
and the ESA went into effect in the Endangered Species Act Oregon Water 
Resources Department began the process of detailing and adjudicating 
these rights.
  So in reviewing the water rights of all the users in the basin, they 
noted that the Bureau claimed the reserved water rights apply only to 
the primary purpose of that water right, which is determined by a 1978 
case, U.S. vs. New Mexico.
  The Ninth Circuit determined in a 1983 case, the U.S. vs. Adair, that 
this land's reservation was for the purpose of agriculture. So as we 
apply that to the Klamath Irrigation area, the KID took the Bureau of 
Reclamation to court over its decisions to increase downstream flows to 
salmon, as well as the retention of water for the sucker fish.
  So they want to retain this portion here for the sucker fish even 
though this portion of water does not belong to the Bureau or Fish and 
Wildlife to use for that purpose.
  This project was created over 100 years ago for agriculture, to 
deliver water down this A Canal through a whole entire system there. 
This dam was completed, the Link River Dam, in 1921, to help regulate 
that source.
  So in the process of Klamath Irrigation District having taken them to 
court, the State ultimately agreed with KID that the Bureau has the 
right to store the water and administer the

[[Page H2555]]

water in Upper Lake, but the Bureau of Reclamation does not have the 
permit, the license, the right to use the water themselves for salmon 
in the river or for the sucker fish that stay in the lake.
  Going further, Section 8 of the Reclamation Act clearly states that 
the Federal Government cannot interfere with the laws of States 
relating to the control or distribution of water used in irrigation.
  So in 1978, California vs. the U.S. certified that a State can impose 
requirements under distribution of water through a Federal reclamation 
project as long as they are consistent with clear Congressional 
directives as Congress set this back up over 100 years ago and ongoing. 
The Congress has made it clear multiple times that the Klamath Project 
was designed and established for irrigation.
  So if you want to concede just for a moment, playing along with Fish 
and Wildlife, that the current level at 4,140.4, and you take it down 
to 4,138, there is 173,000 acre-feet of water available for farmers 
right now that should not be taken, even if you concede the sucker fish 
total.
  So we have got giant problems in the basin.

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