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No
date set yet for water document
Group
is at least a week away from releasing settlement details
By
STEVE KADEL
H&N
Staff Writer
Stakeholder groups failed Friday to reach consensus on
ways to solve the
Two dozen representatives of agriculture interests,
tribes, environmentalists and government organizations held a five-hour
conference call, but couldn’t agree on all the details needed to
release a settlement document.
“The group is at least a week away,” said Greg
Addington, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association who
represents on-Project irrigators at the talks.
“There are some things people are fine-tuning. I do think we are
close. I just can’t pull the trigger.”
There had been hopes the agreement would be released as early as Monday.
But Addington said several new issues arose the closer the groups came
to closure. “Some of it is process type stuff,” he said.
“When you get to the point you’re talking about releasing it, a
whole flurry of new questions comes up.”
Stakeholders have been meeting for three years to
reach a ground-breaking agreement over water allocation. It’s the
largest such collaborative effort ever taken to tackle problems in the
Copies of the draft agreement have circulated among
those affected by the talks, including members of several local
irrigation districts. Participants in the talks have bound themselves to
secrecy concerning details of the document.
However, members of one group representing agriculture spoke
out about their concerns two weeks ago. Edward Bartell, who represented
the Basin’s off-Project irrigators during talks, called the impending
agreement “Draconian.”
“What is there now, we see as extremely negative,”
he said. “I think it’s bad for everyone in the Basin.”
Side
Bar
Stakeholders
working on two documents
The water settlement group is working on two
documents. The largest, which tackles watershedwide issues, was the
subject of Friday’s conference call and is due to be released soon.
Another document, focusing on re-licensing of the
PacifiCorp to operate hydroelectric dams on the
One of the top issues is whether four PacifiCorp dams
will be removed to allow free passage for salmon.
PacifiCorp spokesman Toby Freeman said recently that
dam removal shouldn’t be recommended until more scientific study is
done regarding possible effects, such as release of sediment from behind
the dams.
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