Water suing group state 

Lawsuit claims closed-door talks violate state law

By TY BEAVER

H&N Staff Writer

December 10, 2009

   State officials deny any wrongdoing.

   Portland-based Water for Life filed the lawsuit in Marion County Circuit Court Wednesday. The document specifically seeks to stop the Oregon Water Resources Department from participating in closed-door discussions regarding water rights of the Klamath Tribes. Water for Life claims the discussions violate state law.

   “The department has legal authority to participate in tribal water right negotiations, but the negotiations must be open to the public,” said Richard Kosesan, spokesman for Water for Life, in a press release.  

   State officials said the state is acting within the law, though added they have not yet fully reviewed the suit. Others, including the Resource Conservancy and state lawmakers, also have criticized the state’s involvement.

   “We don’t think we’ve done anything illegal because the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement does not settle the water adjudication issue,” said Tom Paul, Oregon Water Resources Department spokesman.     

   Paul and Mike Carrier, natural resources policy adviser for Gov. Ted Kulongoski, said it’s appropriate and prudent for the state to be involved in restoration agreement negotiations.

   Paul said the state’s involvement isn’t to make decisions on the value of individual water rights, but to help settle a few of the contests within the state’s water adjudication process. Water rights will be defined by the state’s adjudicator, who has not participated in the talks nor been briefed on them, Paul said.  

   State and federal officials, irrigators, tribes, fishermen and environmentalists have worked for years on the restoration agreement, which seeks to resolve conflicts over water in the Klamath River watershed.

   Open negotiations

   Water for Life, which was established by several Basin irrigators, said work on the document took place under a shroud of secrecy, and the state’s participation violates state law that calls for any negotiations on water rights to be open to the public.  

   State officials are in Portland this week for what could be the last round of negotiations on the restoration agreement.

   Kosesan, however, said the state has fallen short of what it’s   required to do in providing the public access to the talks and allowing input.

   “I think the statutory provisions they need to operate under are adequately clear,” he said.