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Water issues
heat up in a drought year. In a plea for securing funds for
Trinity River
restoration, representatives from
the Hoopa Valley Tribe and the Yurok Tribal Council spoke before
Congress Tuesday. They were joined by representatives from the
Bureau of Reclamation, the Central Valley Project Water
Association and the Northern California Power Agency.
The bill, HR 2733, was the subject of the hearing before the
Subcommittee on Water and Power. The legislation was introduced by
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) in an attempt to secure a
fixed level of funding for the
Trinity River
.
Opening the hearing, U.S. Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-
Los Angeles
) said, “I fully support the
Trinity River Restoration Program and other river restoration
efforts that are now under way or proposed throughout the West. I
am confident that we can work together to resolve any conflicts
that may arise.”
Troy Fletcher, a policy analyst for the Yurok, said, “One of the
tribe’s highest priorities is to protect and preserve the
resources of the river and, in particular, to restore the
anadromous fish runs to levels that can sustain Yurok people.”
“When the original Klamath Reservation was established in 1855,
the rivers were filled with abundant stocks of salmon, steelhead,
eulachon, lamprey and green sturgeon. Today, the population of
fish in the
Klamath-Trinity
Basin
is a small fraction of historic levels,” Fletcher said.
Chairperson Clifford Lyle Marshall of the Hoopa Valley Tribe
testified that “(the Bureau of) Reclamation continues to reject
harvest goals used as criteria for evaluating performance in
restoring the
Trinity River
fishery.”
He continued, “The 2000 (record of decision) contains
nondiscretionary mandates that all habitat improvements be
completed by 2007. Implementation of these mandates could have
produced the fish that could have generated millions of dollars to
our local Indian economies. Instead, we are suffering from severe
economic situations.”
Speaking for the Central Valley Project Water Association was
Financial Affairs Committee member Ara Azhderian. He said, “As
currently drafted, the Trinity River Restoration Fund Act of 2007
raises several policy issues that require much further
consideration.”
“The Trinity restoration fund will disrupt Reclamation’s
planning and budgeting processes, thereby affecting their ability
to effectively and efficiently meet the multitude of other
obligations they bear, including operations and maintenance.”
Speaking for the Hupa people,
Marshall
said, “We know that there is a
finite amount of water and funding available.”
He concluded, “Our people cannot wait decades longer for our
fishery to be restored. Accordingly, in the interest of
environmental justice, we urge Congress to enact HR 2733.”
Following the hearing Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Thompson stated via
e-mail, “Today’s hearing was very positive and showed a
commitment from Trinity Basin stakeholders, Central Valley water
and power interests, and the subcommittee to continue working
toward making sure Trinity River restoration receives the funding
it needs to be a success.”
In a phone call Wednesday, Thomas Schlosser, an attorney for the
Hoopa Valley Tribe said, “Mike Thompson has done the right thing
here.”
“From the beginning, Reclamation has reneged on its financial
commitments to the Trinity.”
Schlosser said the legislation is necessary to ensure that
Reclamation does what it promised in the first place with the
record of decision in 2000.
The bill remains in committee.
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