Environmental group pulls out of Klamath talks

Northcoast Environmental Center cites concerns over water for fish, refuges, overall process in withdrawal.

A prominent environmental group has backed out of negotiations over a deal meant to help fish, farmers, tribes and others in the Klamath Basin.

The California-based Northcoast Environmental Center said the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement would threaten salmon and other fish and the basin and won't speed the removal of four dams on the Klamath River, which the center supports.
The agreement, they said, doesn't do enough to ensure flows for fish runs while guaranteeing water deliveries to farms that rely on irrigation water diverted from the river.

"We understand and sympathize with the plight of upriver farmers, who need water for their
crops," said Greg King, the NEC's Klamath campaign coordinator. "The farmers require
water to avoid dry fields. But the salmon need that same water to avoid extinction."

Two other environmental groups, Oregon Wild and WaterWatch, have already come out against the agreement, as has the Hoopa Valley Tribe in California and some upper basin irrigators.

The settlement was crafted over three years by a coalition of 26 groups representing government, farming, fishing, tribal and conservation interests. It was released in draft form last year, hailed as a way to end long-running disputes over water and resources in the basin that straddles the Oregon and California border.

But it would require enough political support to wring nearly $1 billion in funding from Congress to move forward, so any dissolution of the negotiation group threatens its success.

-- Matthew Preusch; mattpreusch@news.oregonian.com