IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS

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                                                                                    )

KLAMATH IRRIGATION DISTRICT et al.,              )

)

Plaintiffs,                                                        )

)

v.                                                                     )           No. 01-591 L

)          

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,                         )           Judge Diane Gilbert Sypolt       

)

Defendant.                                                                 )

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DECLARATION OF FRANK ANDERSON

            I, Frank Anderson, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, hereby declare as follows:

            1.  I am now and have been since 1988, the President of Midland District Improvement Company (MDIC).  I am intimately familiar with the operations of MDIC and, generally, with the Klamath Reclamation Project.  My responsibilities include overseeing all irrigation functions of MDIC, and reporting to and advising MDIC’s Board of Directors.

            2.  MDIC is an Oregon corporation, located in Klamath County , Oregon , for use or control of water organized and existing under Oregon Revised Statutes, ch. 552.  Under Oregon law, MDIC was established by and represents all landowners within its boundaries.  

            3.  MDIC was created on December 7, 1950 .  MDIC operates and maintains irrigation and drainage facilities which convey irrigation water for beneficial use to water users on approximately 565 acres of high-value agricultural land within the boundaries of MDIC.  MDIC farmers grow hay, grain, pasture for livestock and row crops.

4. All of the lands presently within MDIC are in private ownership.

5.  On February 2, 1952 entered into a contract with the United States under which MDIC took over responsibility for collecting Klamath Project charges from MDIC farmers and paying it over to Reclamation. See 1952 MDIC Contract (Pls.’ Amended Compl. App. at Ex. 7, pp. 218 ( Mar. 24, 2003 )).  MDIC has repaid all construction cost liabilities to the United States , and has also paid all annual operation and maintenance charges due under the contract.

6.  Prior to 2001, MDIC landowners always received all the water they could beneficially use (with minor exceptions for also as a result of the Endangered Species Act).  On average, MDIC farmers receive approximately 1415 acre feet of Klamath Project water each year.

            7.  MDIC farmers would, again, in 2001 have received all the water they could have beneficially used if Reclamation had been able to operate under historical operations.  

            8.  The United States directed MDIC to deliver no water to its farmers in April of 2001.  Reclamation authorized in July and early August of 2001 the release of approximately 70,000 acre feet of water to the Project; this was insufficient in amount and too late in the season to grow crops within MDIC.

           9.  Plaintiffs repeatedly demanded release of this water from Upper Klamath Lake , but Reclamation refused.  

            I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed on July ___, 2003.                 ______________________________

                                                                 Frank Anderson, President