House committee wades into Klamath water dispute

A congressional committee on Tuesday questioned whether the Bush administration exercised improper political influence in the 2001 dispute over water in the Klamath Basin.

WASHINGTON A congressional committee on Tuesday questioned whether the Bush administration exercised improper political influence in the 2001 dispute over water in the Klamath Basin.

The House Natural Resources Committee hearing focused on the decision to divert water to farmers, despite federal scientists' concerns that the move would kill protected salmon and more broadly at whether the Bush administration has placed politics over science in its environmental decisions.

"This administration has a pattern and practice of suppressing science on a whole host of issues," said Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash.

In 2001, the Bureau of Reclamation cut off irrigation water to Klamath-area farmers because scientists from the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service said a drought threatened protected fish.

The move devastated farms. Members of Congress who represent them, including Rep. Greg Walden and Sen. Gordon Smith, both Republicans, argued the farmers' case to the administration.

Walden said he and his colleagues asked "everyone from the president on down to do whatever was within the scope of the law to help the farmers in the Klamath Basin."

The National Research Council reviewed the scientific determinations and, in 2002, the Bureau of Reclamation used the new review to justify giving farmers more water.

Environmentalists and fishermen say that decision led to the death of 70,000 salmon. But Republicans cite a 2003 federal study that says the water diversion can't be shown to be solely responsible for the fish kill.

The hearing was prompted by a June article in The Washington Post. According to the article, Vice President Dick Cheney asked an Interior Department staffer to request the study from the National Research Council.

Cheney was invited to testify at the hearing, but declined.

The Republicans cite a 2004 letter from the Interior Department Inspector General stating that the inspector's department "found no evidence of political influence" in the project.

But Mary L. Kendall, the Interior Department's deputy inspector general, told the committee that the investigation only examined whether White House adviser Karl Rove influenced the decision. Investigators did not have any reason to question Cheney's involvement then, she said. "In the end, we don't know what we don't know."

Walden said he read the document more broadly.

"I guess I'm just a little perplexed by this notion that maybe Dick Cheney in the background did something you wouldn't have spotted," Walden said.

Republicans and Democrats debated the role elected officials should play in environmental matters.

"If you were representing a group that had all of its water shut off and it was done supposedly in the name of science would you not be requesting that at least we look this science over, to investigate that it was at least good science that we used in destroying the entire economy?" Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif., asked Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.

"I'd say to the gentleman that was a different request than the vice president made, which is to get the science on the side of the farmers," Miller responded.

Although the dispute is more than five years old, the renewed interest could have political consequences for Smith, who is up for re-election next year.

In a statement Monday, Meredith Wood Smith, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Oregon, called for Smith to apologize for his involvement in the Klamath.

"If Gordon Smith can open an irrigation system to release thousands of gallons of water," she said, "surely he can open his mouth and apologize to Oregonians."

In a statement in response to the committee hearing, Smith spokesman R.C. Hammond said the Klamath decisions were based on sound science.

"The senator believes leadership, not partisanship will solve the problems facing the Klamath Basin," Hammond said. "Any federal policy that completely cuts off any group -- farmers, fishermen or Native Americans -- is wrong, and he will fight it every time."

Jeff Kosseff: 503-294-7605; jeff.kosseff@newhouse.com