Government Admits Responsibility For Klamath River Salmon Kill

[hatrack]

"More than a year after the largest adult fish die-off in U.S. history struck the Klamath River, the federal government has acknowledged that its diversions of water to Klamath Basin farms were partly responsible.

In findings released Tuesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service admits what others have contended since some 34,000 salmon and other fish went belly up in September 2002: Low river levels doomed a large run of migrating adults to succumb to disease in warm, stagnant water.

The agency singled out depleted flows from the Upper Klamath Basin on the Oregon-California line as a cause. The Bush administration, in attempting to protect fish in 2001, had withheld water from farms, letting them go dry. But in 2002, the year of the die-off, the administration had sought to help farms and gave them a full allocation of water.

Documents obtained by The Oregonian through the Freedom of Information Act show that federal scientists had largely reached that same conclusion more than six months ago. But they were prevented from releasing their findings pending review by Bush administration officials."

EDIT

The Oregonian

[E_Zapata]

1. More like.....pending review and 'creative editting' by the Bush admin!

Bastards!

[Bozola]

2. What I frequently see when I'm passing through Klamath Hole

in the summer months when it's hot as hell out:

Irrigation sprinklers jetting huge arcs of water high up into the dry hot air.

You'd think they'd at least try to conserve a dwindling resource...I guess hanging flag on everything accomplishes the same goal.

[LeahMira]

3. Thanks!

I've been doing some research about ways that minority groups use the internet to inform the general public of their issues and points of view, and I've been following this particular issue as it impacts on the Klamath tribes. Who would have thought I'd find an update on DU though! Thanks so much for posting it. Off to see what's the latest on the tribal websites. :-)

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. We've been keeping a close eye on the development of the

Klamath from the beginning. Some of us still remember how it was a rallying cry for Fox News that guv'mint was too stingy to the little white, Republican farmer by withholding water. They never mentioned that these fools were growing water needy crops in the middle of a desert!

And when Bush came into office, I don't recall that he withheld water from the farmers in order to favor the salmon. I remember it exactly the other way.

[blm]

4. Good reminder of who leads the enviro battles against the WH:

http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030906/northwest/93525.shtml

Interior Department to investigate White House-Klamath connections


THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- The Interior Department inspector general will look into possible political interference by the White House in developing water policy in the Northwest, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry announced Friday.

The inquiry follows the disclosure that President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, briefed dozens of political appointees at the Interior Department more than a year and a half ago about diverting water from the Klamath River in Oregon to irrigate farms.

Last September, 33,000 chinook salmon died in the Klamath River in Northern California. The California Department of Fish and Game laid much of the blame on low flows controlled by the federal government for creating conditions that allowed a fatal gill rot disease to spread through the fish.

A report on the fish kill by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not been released.

Kerry asked for the IG investigation after a story about Rove's meeting with the political appointees appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

Rove's briefing of Interior's political appointees took place following a trip by President Bush and Rove to Oregon where they focused on the Klamath water issue. Rove made a second trip to Oregon before the department decided to increase the water flow to farms.
>>>>>>>>