"This is the third of a series on the Klamath Calamity."
By Gene J. Koprowski
“Will the Senator yield?” says Sen. Joseph Paine, a corrupt politician, from an unnamed western state, played by Claude Rains, in director Frank Capra’s legendary film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
“No, I will not sir!” says Sen. Jefferson Smith , a naïve newcomer to politics, played by actor Jimmy Stewart, in the Oscar-winning performance that made him a major movie star in 1939.
The two are debating the fate of a dam. Flash forward 75 years, Congress is again debating the fate of another water project, with several dams, this time in Oregon, along the Klamath River.
As in the movies, corrupt forces behind the scenes are shaping the fate of farmers, ranchers, hydroelectric power company shareholders and employees, and even a few native Americans and endangered species, like the Klamath salmon.
“The federal government has the right to approve or deny any dam removal,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), in a recent Senate hearing.
Dog and Pony Show
Congressional hearings are carefully orchestrated affairs, organized by staff to give the appearance of thoroughness, and impartiality, but with the real purpose of pushing through a pre-approved agenda.
But, as in the filibuster scene in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, sometimes the truth breaks through the layers of lies.
That’s what happened on June 20, 2013, in the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, headed by Sen. Wyden.
The hearing was called, ostensibly to set the stage for parties – environmentalists, Indians and their allies and ranchers and farmers – to amicably come together and reach a deal on water rights and usage along the Klamath River.
But some of the witnesses at the hearing did not stick to the script – which was that a deal on the dams and the River was in everyone’s interest and was scientifically sound.
Those backing the Klamath River deals have “sacrificed science and an honest assessment of ecosystem conditions and processes in favor of a predetermined outcome based on a belief that removal of the lower four dams on the Klamath River is a condition precedent to enhancing fisheries. That is clearly not the case,” said Michael Kobseff, Vice-Chair, Board of Supervisors, Siskiyou County, Calif.
Kobseff also said that “Siskiyou County remains concerned about other potentially negative impacts of dam removal on the region. In a recent election, nearly 80% of voters in Siskiyou County expressed their opinion that the dams should not be removed. Siskiyou County continues to have grave concerns about the release
of nearly 20 million cubic yards of sediments behind the dams, which is loaded with toxic minerals. This release may result in massive destruction of the ecosystem.”
What is more, Kobseff testified, local conservation plans were already restoring the fish population in the river – which had been a heated subject for native Americans – and removing the dams would destroy habitats for birds that have settled there since their construction.
No Follow-Up Questions
Not one follow-up question was asked by Wyden, or the other Senators. The scientifically grounded objections did not fit the script of the day. Nor did the Senators voice concerns about the 77,000 head of cattle in Oregon, primarily, who are fed by irrigation from the Klamath River, or the costs of selling the cattle, or feeding them, when water is not readily available.
Putting of the Water
Wyden and his colleagues ignored all but what they wanted from that hearing and went forward with proposed legislation in recent weeks which also left out those legitimate concerns.
Their focus is on restoring tribal lands which have existed since “time immemorial,” e.g. since God created the earth, even though some of the tribal entities didn’t receive federal recognition as legitimate Indian tribes until recently.
“Every year since the beginning of time, Karuk People have remade the world through these ceremonies handed down to us by the Creator where we pray for all things and all the peoples of the earth,” testified Leaf G. Hillman, Director of Natural Resources Karuk Tribe, Happy Camp, Calif.
But that is something of a straw man, illusory argument. The Klamath tribes, including the Karuk, were originally, as far as anthropologists can tell, part of the Plateau Indians, who lived far north on the Columbia River Plateau. So the land near Happy Camp has clearly not been theirs throughout the history of the earth.
What is more, the federal government terminated recognition of tribal sovereignty in 1954, and did not restore recognition until years later, after the tribe itself had called it quits in 1961, as detailed in the book, by author Rick Steber, Buy the Chief a Cadillac (2005).
Nonetheless, according to Sen. Wyden, “it's quite clear the Klamath tribes have to be a
part of the solution.”
The same kind of process, raise a false issue, one that may even be illogical, but persist with it, is said to have dogged the process of reaching the river agreements, which started as a bureaucratic initiative first put forth during the Bush administration, sources tell LandAndWaterUSA.com.
New rights are created, during this process, by bureaucratic processes, and treated as if they are historical or natural rights.
“Oregon's Adjudicator issued a Final Order of Determination in March, 2013, which in part determined that the Klamath Tribes possess the most senior (time immemorial) priority dates for water, and large and geographically extensive rights for water in streams, rivers, seeps, springs, marshes and lakes in the Upper Basin,” testified Donald C. Gentry, Chairman of the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, Chiloquin, Ore. “Accordingly, the Klamath Tribes has an enforceable senior water right.”
According to testimony at Wyden’s hearing, more than 80 public meetings were held in recent years with stakeholders along the Klamath River. Those involved included several state and federal agencies, non-government organizations and non-profits. These groups were carefully led by interested parties who used what is called the Delphi Technique – a management tool to control the agenda of meetings, developed for business.
They used control of the meetings, setting of the meeting agendas, and the power to recognize, as valid, certain arguments, and discount others, to develop the false consensus which was prented to Congress in recent weeks, experts tell LandandWaterUSA.com. These straw man arguments are presented as fact – the tribes involved have rights to the water since the beginning of humanity, for example – and are signed off for approval by the various participating agencies and their scientists.
But the truth is, none of these matters is really settled, many parties are still aggrieved, and Congress is being asked to vote on legislation based on a number of false premises.
In the West, water has always been a contentious issue, and it is doubtful that, even if passed by the Congress, this current deal could start things over, as if from time immemorial.
“Whiskey, that's for drinking and water that's for fighting,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.,) who is co-sponsoring the bill introduced this spring with Wyden. “That captures the challenge of sharing this incredibly important resource.”
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URL:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Filibuster Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX8aFpnWxPA
Mr. Smith Goes to Lost Causes Speech/Senate Floor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAjDmw6IrFg
Congressional Testimony, URL
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-113shrg82613/html/CHRG-113shrg82613.htm
Klamath Agreement URLs
http://klamathrestoration.gov/Draft-EIS-EIR/download-draft-eis-eir
Delphi Method
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi_method
Buy the Chief A Cadillac
http://www.amazon.com/Buy-The-Chief-A-Cadillac/dp/0945134339
From Amazon.com’s review of Buy the Chief A Cadillac: “In spare, honest, and picturesque language, Rick Steber sets this Spur Award-winning novel on the Klamath Indian reservation in just days before the tribe's "termination" by the U. S. government. Each tribal member received a $43,000 settlement from the government in return for the Klamath's 1-million acre reservation and the end of the Klamath's tribal status. Buy the Chief a Cadillac explores life on the reservation for three brothers— alcoholism, violence, greed, and madness.”