[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 110 (Thursday, June 24, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H3119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION INDICATOR SPECIES

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, environmental protection of species 
revolves around the use of indicator species. But what has been lost in 
recent years is the impact also on humans and their needs.
  The indicator, for example, for farmers in California is very grave 
in the great Central Valley and up at the Klamath Basin.
  Up on the Klamath, you have one environmental management plan that 
says more water is needed for salmon, for example, under a biological 
opinion, and another management plan that says more water is needed to 
be stored in the lake for suckerfish. You can't do both at the same 
time, and the result is the salmon are not more plentiful and the 
suckerfish are not recovering as a species.
  But the rural areas in Klamath and Siskiyou Counties are being cut 
off from their main economic driver. The farms up there are suffering 
badly because of water that has been taken by the Federal Government 
that does not belong to the Federal Government.
  The stored water in that lake was created for agriculture solely, and 
yet it is being used as more or less a slush fund for Federal agencies 
that want to take this water and somehow try and make a difference in 
the river. This has got to come to a stop, because we need agriculture 
in California.

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