August 4, 2005
Klamath Falls Herald and News
By DYLAN DARLING
Federal officials say they still want to find an
overall solution to water woes in the Klamath Basin, despite claims by
irrigators above Upper Klamath Lake that the federal government isn't
interested.
"We would really like to see things worked out and are working with those
groups," Dave Sabo, manager of the Klamath Reclamation Project, said in a
Tuesday meeting with the Herald and News editorial board.
But former state Sen. Steve Harper, representing a
group that floated a proposal to Interior Department officials in Washington,
D.C., in February, said he still hasn't heard what needs to be done to make
the agreement work.
"Well, they need to tell us then, if that is the case," Harper said.
"They need to say what they think is fair. They need to make a counter
offer, if you will."
Klamath Tribes Chairman Allen Foreman and Fort Klamath rancher Roger Nicholson
traveled to Washington together in February to present Interior Department
officials with a four-page agreement they said would settle a long-standing
legal dispute over water above Upper Klamath Lake.
Sabo said the Interior Department was given general concepts, but needs to
know in more detail how the agreement would work.
"We haven't seen any proposals," Sabo said. "We've been working
on the concepts we've been given."
Sabo said Interior Department officials asked for more details, but Harper and
Nicholson said they still haven't heard back from them.
"I see no interest on the Interior Department's part in settling it at all," Nicholson said.
The agreement called for the Tribes and Upper Basin
irrigators to drop their contests of each others claims in the adjudication
process, which will determine who holds the highest priority water rights.
The agreement also called for the federal government to establish a
"joint restoration committee" with $200 million, or $10 million per
year for 20 years, for environmental projects above Upper Klamath Lake.
Sabo said the money wasn't the problem with the agreement, but the lack of
details. He said he doesn't understand why Foreman and Nicholson didn't try to
get members of Oregon's congressional delegation to introduce a bill that
would have supported and funded the agreement.
"They know how the game works," he said.
Nicholson said the Tribes and irrigators chose to approach the Interior
Department because of the Tribes' ties with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a
branch of Interior. The BIA has claims against irrigators above Upper Klamath
Lake filed in the adjudication.
"In order for the Tribes to settle, the Interior
Department needs to settle," he said.
Harper the parties involved in the agreement hope to meet soon with Larry
Finfer, the Interior Department official handling Klamath issues.