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This Website is Dedicated to Alvin Alexander Cheyne January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005 |
Irrigators disappointed by dismissal
Klamath
Basin
irrigators
say the
dismissal of
a lawsuit
seeking
low-cost
irrigation
power rates
is
disappointing
but not
surprising.
The
lawsuit
filed by the
Klamath
Water Users
Association
against the
Federal
Energy
Regulatory
Commission
was one
avenue
toward
helping
irrigators
deal with
rising
energy costs
after the
expiration
of a 1956
contract
with
Portland-based
PacifiCorp.
"We're
disappointed
the court
didn't even
consider the
merit of the
case," said
Steve Kandra,
irrigator
and KWUA
board
member.
Irrigators
will now
focus on
long-term
solutions,
including
the Klamath
Basin
Restoration
Agreement,
as a way of
securing
affordable
power for
farming and
ranching.
States have
jurisdiction
The
U.S. Court
of Appeals
for the
District of
Columbia
Circuit
dismissed
the lawsuit
Friday,
saying that
the states
of Oregon
and
California
have
jurisdiction
over
electric
rates, not
FERC.
The
lawsuit was
filed about
a year and a
half ago and
stems from
PacifiCorp's
refusal to
renew a 1956
contract
that
provided
Klamath
Reclamation
Project
irrigators
with low
electricity
rates. After
the contract
expired,
FERC refused
to
incorporate
those rates
into the
temporary
licenses
needed by
PacifiCorp
to operate
the dams
until the
re-licensing
process was
finished.
Toby Freeman, regional community manager with PacifiCorp, said he hadn’t read the court’s decision yet, but was under the impression it supported the decision made by FERC years ago that it couldn’t affect power rates.
Kandra and Greg Addington, KWUA executive director, said the lawsuit’s defeat won’t be too damaging to irrigators and won’t change current situations. It is upsetting in the light that whereas fish passage is a condition for dam re-licensing now, the irrigator contract was a condition of dam licensing in the 1950s.
“The appeals court really missed an opportunity to set the record straight,” Addington said.
Off-Project irrigators had no stake in KWUA’s lawsuit. Ed Bartell, president of the Klamath Off-Project Water Users said irrigators represented by his organization were under a different contract which has received a favorable ruling from the courts. The group is still involved in other cases.
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