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PacifiCorp's role in Klamath River Dams
September 14, 2006
To Linda Prendergast, PacifiCorp linda.prendergast@pacificorp.com
From: Julie Kay Smithson, PropertyRightsResearch.org propertyrights@earthlink.net
As a researcher on the twin topics of property rights and resource
providers, my work is often focused on farmers, irrigators, dams, etc.
As might be imagined, the Klamath Basin, Klamath Project and those
living in, and impacted by, water, are often part of my work.
My website, http://www.PropertyRightsResearch.org,
has several directly related buttons: Articles By State [California
and Oregon], Farmers, Fisheries, Klamath, and Water.
PacifiCorp is charged with a delicate balancing act: PacifiCorp
must continue to be profitable, appeasing Mid-American
shareholders while protecting the interests of ratepayers.
Just as PacifiCorp/Mid-American must generate a return on its
investments, so, too, must PacifiCorp's Klamath customers be able to
reap the harvest of their investments.
In the Klamath Basin and Klamath Project, irrigators utilize water in
ways marvelous to behold.
From the use and reuse of Project water, which is "recycled"
more than a half-dozen times before going downstream, to the amazing
bounty that the Klamath Project offers the region, America and the
world in the form of a top-quality diversity of products grown -- this
PacifiCorp service area delivers more than the checks it receives from
ratepayers.
Those very ratepayers and Klamath Project irrigators help
feed PacifiCorp directors, shareholders and employees, consequently
doing one thing that PacifiCorp also does: improving the quality of
life for employees, shareholders and ratepayers alike.
What a Mecca is this Klamath Basin!
Dams are built and maintained for many reasons. In the Klamath Basin,
dams exist both to provide water for the Klamath Project and
hydroelectric power for PacifiCorp.
Tribal concerns and those of self-proclaimed "environmental"
and "conservation" organizations, regarding the very
existence of dams, are certainly vocal. However, the fact that
tribal members, as well as the rest of the community that is the
Klamath Basin, benefit directly from the dams and their purpose, is
undeniable. Arguments for fish ladders may be well-placed, but the
temperature of the water in the Klamath River is influenced by many
factors other than dams.
In the twenty-first century, the existence of "meth" labs
has become something that has caused fish kills in the Klamath River.
This is not often reported or even recognized or admitted, but it
is no less a fact.
Other reasons for the warmer temperature of the Klamath River are:
the region's natural environment, including, but not limited to, the
altitude, precipitation, climate, snowpack, snowmelt, etc.;
the warm surface temperature of the Upper Klamath Lake, which are not
affected by any downstream dams;
and more reasons of which I am either unaware or that I cannot call to
mind at this time.
There are other websites that provide a great deal of research and
facts, including, but not limited to:
The continued existence of the Klamath Project and the custom and
culture of the Klamath Basin since the turn of the nineteenth century,
may not hinge on whether the Klamath River remains dammed, but
downriver water demands continue to expect the Project irrigators to
"get along" on less and less water each year. Granted, this
may seem like "recent history" to some, but the fact remains
that the bounty of the Klamath Basin -- through the generational
devotion and dedication of Klamath Project irrigators and farmers, who
are also property owners and PacifiCorp ratepayers -- is, with
the exception of the Willamette Valley, unsurpassed by any
agricultural region in the Pacific Northwest.
I ask, Linda, that you read the following paragraph and consider the
impact on this man's life and that of his family, plus their custom
and culture, property rights and future, that caused him to say:
"We
may now be expected to go to war for America, little knowing if we
will even have farms to come back to, because of the undue influence
and pressure that is destroying our American custom and culture as
resource providers due to the Endangered Species Act and the
uninhibited lust that the non-governmental agencies (notably the
Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Club among others) have for our
lands. Almost one hundred years of 'sweat equity' are valued at as
little as $28 per acre, and our wildlife refuge inhabitants are
suffering, too, at the hands of those who profess to love wildlife,
the 'environmentalists'" - Oregon farmer, commenting after the
horrors of 9-11 that prompted those at the Klamath Falls, OR
"A" Canal Headgates to break up camp and allow the federal
agency employees to be better utilized elsewhere for national
security.
Thank you for your time and consideration, Linda. I look forward to
your reply!
Miss Julie Kay Smithson, researcher
213 Thorn Locust Lane
London, Ohio 43140
"As a teenager, I used to wonder if Johnny Tremaine, Nathan Hale
and John Paul Jones knew what exciting times they grew up in. I
suspected they were oblivious to their place in history and wished I
could have been there to partake in the creation of a new nation,
founded in liberty & justice for all. And now I look around, and I
see I have the very same opportunity I yearned for so long
(ago)." - Rich Martin, June 15, 2003.
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