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Tribes:
No more water talks
Klamath Tribes will not negotiate with groups on water agreement
By
TY BEAVER
H&N
Staff Writer
The
Klamath Tribes will no longer negotiate with the Klamath Off-Project
Water Users and Resource Conservancy groups on the proposed Klamath
Basin Restoration Agreement and water adjudication process.
A
full-page advertisement in Sunday’s Herald and News outlined the
Tribes’ proposal to resolve their differences with off-Project water
users by meetings with individual landowners and “appropriate
landowner groups.”
Representatives
of Klamath Off-Project Water Users and Resource Conservancy criticized
the advertisement, saying it contained inaccuracies.
They
also called for a reopening of negotiations on the agreement, a move
rejected by a tribal representative.
“We’re
not interested in going back to square one,” said Jeff Mitchell,
tribal council member.
Stakeholders
released the proposed agreement Jan. 15. If approved, it would allocate
water in the
Criticism
Some
off-Project water users criticized the agreement, saying it provided few
assurances for stabilized power rates and directly granted the Tribes a
full water right in the water adjudication process.
The
Tribes published the newspaper advertisement at a cost of between $1,000
and $2,500. Cost of the ad would depend on a variety of rates and
contracts the Herald and News offers for advertising. The Tribes could
have paid as little as $9 a column inch to as much as $21 a column inch
for the 110-inch full-page ad.
In the ad, the Tribes said they were committed to
stabilizing communities, including off-Project water users. Off-Project
water users are those who own land and use irrigation water outside of
the Klamath Reclamation Project.
It then outlined a process in which the Tribes would
work through Section 16 of the agreement with individual landowners to
develop a settlement that would benefit the majority of off-Project
water users.
However, the Tribes said they would not work with the
Resource Conservancy or Klamath Off-Project Water Users as exclusive
representatives of off-Project water users. Edward Bartell, president of
Klamath Off-Project Water Users, was at the table during settlement
talks.
“We recognize that some landowners value these
participants’ counsel and their willingness to devote time and expense
in meeting on water issues,” the ad stated. “However, a successful
outcome will not flow from continued reliance on the personalities that
could not reach agreement in lengthy talks so far.”
Mitchell said discussions with off-Project water users
indicated they did not give representative authority to those two
organizations at agreement talks, and individual landowners would decide
whether to sign on or not.
Attacks
disappointing
Bartell said he was disappointed by the attacks the ad
made against him and his organization. He said his organization and the
Resource Conservancy have signed authorizations from landowners
designating them as representatives of off-Project water users.
Section 16 of the agreement would not provide any
further protections for off-Project water users and to say otherwise is
an inaccuracy, Bartell said, adding that it also doesn’t address
issues with power rates.
Instead, he said, stakeholders should go back to an
original agreement framework developed in early 2007 that was amenable
to off-Project water users.
“They’ve been unwilling to provide what they said
they’d provide,” Bartell said.
Commitment questioned
A press release from the Resource Conservancy
questioned the Tribes’ commitment to agriculture, saying they
contributed to the 2001 water crisis and have continued legal action
against off-Project irrigators.
The conservancy was denied a seat in the settlement
talks, but it supported the January 2007 framework. It also honored a
settlement reached with the Tribes and former chairman Allen Foreman and
stands ready to honor that and other agreements, the press release
stated.
Mitchell said the Tribes do not want to take advantage
of anyone and would not oppose meeting with neighboring landowners who
wish to team up.
“We need to find a critical mass of people willing
to work with us,” he said.
Klamath County Commissioner John Elliott, who also
participated in settlement talks, said he thinks the Tribes are trying
to honor Section 16 of the agreement, which calls for negotiations
between individual landowners and the Tribes.
Calls on Monday to Luther Horsley and Greg Addington
of the Klamath Water Users Association were not immediately returned.
Side
Bar
Defining
terms
Water adjudication
: the process
through which the state of
Section 16
: the portion of
the proposed Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement that describe
conditions for continued negotiations between the Klamath Tribes and
off-Project water users regarding water.
Resource Conservancy
: a group that
represents those contesting claims of others in the
Klamath Off-Project
Water Users
: a group that
represents power interests for off-Project water users. President Edward
Bartell says the group includes landowners of about 100,000 acres of
off-Project land.
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Source: http://pioneer.olivesoftware.com/Daily/Skins/heraldandnews/
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