[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13023-13024]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     CRISIS IN KLAMATH RIVER BASIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Osborne). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. WALDEN of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to again talk about 
the saga of the Klamath Basin and the farmers who have lived there and 
tilled the ground and fed the Nation.
  As my colleagues know, Mr. Speaker, on April 6, they cut off the 
water. They said, no water for the farmers this year; the suckerfish 
would prevail. Mr. Speaker, word is finally getting out about this 
crisis. There have been stories in The New York Times, and today in the 
Washington Post there is a story. It has been on Fox News and other 
networks, CNN and others, who are beginning to cover this story and the 
tragedy that is occurring at ground zero of the Endangered Species Act 
debate.
  Today, in the Washington Post, Michael Kelly, a columnist, writes, 
``The Endangered Species Act has worked as intended, but it has been 
exploited by environmental groups whose agenda is to force humans out 
of lands they wish to see returned to a prehuman state. Never has this 
been made more nakedly, brutally clear than in the battle of Klamath 
Falls.''
  Mr. Speaker, I want to read today from a couple of letters I have 
received from constituents. These folks, Bill and Ethel Rust wrote, 
``We have not written sooner as shock and disbelief have kept us almost 
immobilized and so sick at heart.
  My husband is 76 years old and a Navy veteran of World War II, having 
lost a brother in this war. We have been ranchers our entire life and 
depended on this for our livelihood. We are still in shock that our own 
government has taken this away from us. We recently retired to a small 
75-acre alfalfa ranch that was just perfect for us to handle at our 
age, and you have just destroyed it. Without water, our alfalfa is 
dying. What are we to do to replace this income? Is the suckerfish more 
important to you than we are? Having raised nine children to be hard 
workers and contributors to our society, are we now to apply for 
welfare or live off our children?
  ``We have sold our cattle. We are in the process of selling our 
horses. After a lifetime of getting up in the morning to care for our 
livestock and ranch chores, what would you suggest we do with our 
mornings? What reason do you give us to get out of bed?
  ``We need the help of our government. Will we get that?''
  Mr. Speaker, this is typical of hundreds, if not thousands of letters 
I have received from the people of Klamath Falls.
  Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues know, this House, prior to the July 4 
recess, passed $20 million in aide to the farmers and ranchers of 
Klamath Basin, and the Senate has now approved that. It will be in 
conference next week, and soon it should be on the President's desk.
  Mr. Speaker, today I had the opportunity to speak with President Bush 
personally about the crisis in the Klamath Basin and he offered his 
help and urged me to continue to contact and work with Secretaries 
Norton and Veneman. So later this afternoon, I spoke with Secretary 
Veneman, Agriculture Secretary, about the problem. Because, Mr. 
Speaker, the word is getting out, and now the help must get in. Good 
people are being urged to do bad things, as frustration levels rise in 
the Klamath Basin. Twenty million dollars, Mr. Speaker, that will be 
available to these farmers and ranchers in the Klamath Basin sooner 
rather than later if the U.S. Department of Agriculture acts 
expeditiously to get these funds that we have approved in this Congress 
into the hands of farmers whose fields are drying out.
  The land, instead of green, is parched and brown. Wind is stirring up 
the dust. The costs continue. Mortgages have to be paid. Equipment 
payments have to be met. Bankers are knocking on the door. People are 
scared. Their livelihoods are at stake.
  We need also to work with USDA to get feed and water for livestock. 
Literally, a crisis is at the doorstep. We also need in the long term, 
which has to be shorter, rather than longer, to improve water quality, 
but moreover, improve water quantity; to get biological opinions for 
next year's operations plan that are above question that have been 
blind peer-reviewed so we know the science is valid but, moreover, the 
conclusions are sound, so that we can open the gates legally and get 
water into the fields and the farms for the people of the Klamath 
Basin.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a crisis on our hands, a crisis that is getting 
worse,

[[Page 13024]]

not better, as people's frustration levels rise, not fall. They need 
our help, Mr. Speaker. They need help in us changing the Endangered 
Species Act. They need help financially; but most of all, they need the 
water they were promised so that next year they can plant the crops 
like they have for the past 85 years.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues in the Oregon 
congressional delegation, members of both parties, for working with me 
on this issue, for helping secure the $20 million. It is a start, but 
it is not the end. It must be distributed rapidly and not parceled out 
over the months. We need to act.
  It took an overnight to cut off the water; it cannot take months to 
get relief to these same people.
  Mr. Speaker, these people who settled this country were invited there 
by this Federal Government with the promise of land and water if they 
would simply homestead the land and produce food for the country. 
People who were invited to this area were the very people who fought 
for our freedom in a far-off land. Veterans of America's Armed Forces 
were given priority. It is our turn now, Mr. Speaker, to step up and 
take care of those people.

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