[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3485-3486]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    KLAMATH BASIN DROUGHT ASSISTANCE

  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I rise tonight to tell you a tale about 
the Klamath Basin. It is really two stories about the Klamath Basin. 
One is of a terrific vision that has come together between fishermen 
and ranchers and tribes, and the second is a story about a terrible 
drought. So I want to start with the good news and share a little bit 
of the vision.
  First, let me tell you about the magical place that is the Klamath 
Basin. It is in southern Oregon and northern California. It is an area 
of the country

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that is rich with agricultural resources and exceptional wildlife 
populations. The basin contains approximately 1,400 family farms and 
ranches and encompasses over 200,000 acres of farmland irrigated with 
water from the Klamath River and Klamath Lake.
  In 2009, the basin's agricultural industry produced over $440 million 
in revenue. The Klamath is sometimes referred to as the ``Western 
Everglades.'' The basin attracts 80 percent of the Pacific Flyway's 
waterfowl and supports the largest over-wintering population of bald 
eagles anywhere in the Lower 48 States. It is also home to one of the 
most productive salmon river systems in the country.
  Let me tell you that the allocation of water in this basin has always 
been a source of enormous tension between the farmers and ranchers, the 
fishermen--both the instream fishermen and the offshore fishermen--and 
the tribes. These groups that have traditionally been in contest with 
each other have come together over the last few years to say that this 
situation--the uncertainty about water and the poor health of the 
river--is not sustainable into the future; that all of us could 
benefit, all of the parties could benefit, if we worked together for a 
different vision, for a vision that shared a little more regularity 
with water, that took out some dams that increased the water flow, that 
had colder water for the salmon, that avoided some of the terrible 
calamities that occurred, including the worst die-off of fish we have 
had in the United States of America that happened about a decade ago.
  So these stakeholders have developed a collaborative agreement and 
signed it, called the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement or KBRA. That 
agreement is designed to benefit farmers and ranchers as well as the 
Klamath tribe and fishermen up and down the west coast by offering more 
certainty about access to water. At the same time, it restores the 
river and improves habitat and riverflows for native fish species and 
wildlife refuges.
  The development of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement is a 
historic step forward for the region. If it were already in place, it 
would provide a powerful set of collaborative tools for dealing with 
drought, for dealing with years when there is a shortage of water. But 
Congress has not yet acted and those tools are not in place.
  That brings us to this current year and the second half of the story. 
To help me address that, I am going to put up a chart in the Chamber.
  This black line on the chart shows what had been the lowest level of 
Klamath Lake since it has been recorded in Oregon history--the lowest 
level, which is shown by the black line. This red line represents the 
level of the lake this year. As you can readily see, the level of the 
lake is far below the worst ever year that had been recorded--the 
calamity of 1992. These red dots on the chart represent the level the 
lake needs to be to provide irrigation water to farmers. There is no 
conceivable way we are going to get from this red line, as shown on the 
chart, to these red dots in order to provide water in the normal 
fashion. That is why we are facing such a calamity this year.
  With spring planting season already upon us, it is critical that we 
take immediate action to respond to this crisis. We have the advantage 
of tracking this and knowing the crisis is coming. So together we can 
work to mitigate the worst effects of the drought rather than waiting 
for the drought to simply play itself out.
  A drought of this magnitude requires an unprecedented, integrated, 
expansive set of responses from the Federal agencies and a dedicated 
effort to coordinate response efforts along with local and State 
governments. Along with Senator Wyden, I have requested the Departments 
of Agriculture, Interior, and Commerce to dedicate all required 
resources to address this crisis swiftly. My team has been working with 
the teams at those Departments, and they are making a lot of progress. 
But we have to continue pushing forward as fast and as quickly as 
possible.
  There are several key strategies that could help address this: first, 
acquiring upstream water rights from willing sellers to increase the 
amount of water that is available in the Klamath Basin; second, to 
pursue extensive flexibility within the boundaries of law and science 
to utilize surface water in the most effective possible manner; third, 
help farmers activate emergency drought wells and otherwise access 
ground water; and fourth, set up crop idling programs to conserve 
water.
  The worst thing we can do is simply stand by, watch farmers plant 
their crops, and then watch those crops fail. So I want to say now that 
there is a big compliment owed to the Departments of Agriculture, 
Commerce, and Interior for their prompt and engaged action. I know 
Senator Wyden and I will stay equally engaged. It is no exaggeration to 
say that without Federal assistance and cooperation with local and 
State officials, the impending drought will result in disaster for 
Klamath Basin communities. So I urge my colleagues to work with me to 
meet this challenge and avoid this calamity.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont is recognized.

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