Congress to Hold Hearing on Cheney’s Role in Klamath Fish Kill

Congress to Hold Hearing on Cheney’s Role in Klamath Fish Kill

By Dan Bacher

Nick Rahall, Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, announced today that he will convene an oversight hearing on the alarming role that Vice President Dick Cheney "may have played" in Klamath River Basin decisions leading to the Klamath fish kill of 2002.

As reported in the Washington Post article, “Leaving No Tracks,” by Jo Becker and Barton Gellman on June 27, Cheney's intervention in the development of a 10-year water plan for the Klamath River resulted in a September 2002 die-off of an estimated 68,000 adult salmon in the lower Klamath River - the largest adult salmon kill in U.S. history.

The cutoff of water was made in spite of evidence from state, federal, tribal and independent scientists that a fish kill was imminent in September because of low, warm water conditions that prevailed in the river when the salmon began their annual migration upriver. In the spring of 2002, hundreds of thousands of juvenile salmon and steelhead perished because of the low flows and high water temperatures as the fish moved downriver.

The article, the last in a series of four about Cheney’s dubious methods of “governance,” spurred 36 House Democrats from California and Oregon to send a letter to Rahall late on Wednesday requesting the hearing.

“According to today’s article, the Vice President called Sue Ellen Wooldridge, deputy chief of staff to Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, to pressure her into a policy for the Klamath River Basin that would benefit some farmers, over the protection of federally threatened fish – all to win votes in Oregon,” the letter stated. “His political interference resulted in a 10-year water plan for the Klamath River that has been unanimously ruled ‘arbitrary and capricious and in violation of the Endangered Species Act,’ by three courts.”

“Moreover,” the letter continued, “his action resulted in the largest fish kill in the history of the west. The ramifications of that salmon kill are still felt today, as returns to the Klamath River are so low that commercial, sport and tribal fishing season have been curtailed for the past three years. In fact, last year’s commercial fishing season for all of California and Oregon was cut by over 90 percent, and was the largest commercial fishing closure in the history of the country, causing over $60 million in damages to coastal economies.”

After requesting Rahall to hold oversight hearings on Cheney’s involvement in the Klamath Basin decisions, the Representatives said, “His blatant disregard for law cannot be ignored.”

Those signing the letter included Representatives Mike Thompson, George Miller, Anna Eshoo, Zoe Lofgren, Sam Farr, Jim Costa, Howard Berman, Bob Fillner, Adam Schiff, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Brad Sherman, Dennis Cardoza, Tom Lantos, Peter DeFazio, Diane Watson, Linda Sanchez, Doris Matsui, David Wu, Barbara Lee, Jerry McNerney, Jane Harman, Hilda Solis, Pete Stark, Xavier Becerra, Mike Honda, Grace Napolitano, Susan Davis, Lynn Woolsey, Darlene Hooley, Carl Blumenauer, Ellen Tauscher, Loretta Sanchez, Lois Capps, Joe Baca, Maxine Waters and Henry Waxman.

Today, Rep. Rahall released the following statement in response to the request from House Democrats:

"This Committee has already begun examining the penchant for this Administration to favor politics over science in the implementation of the Endangered Species Act, which was highlighted during a May 9th hearing and in the resignation of the Interior Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks over the fiasco.

"In light of the revelations being made over the situation in the Klamath River Basin, it is my intention to again convene the Committee to delve into the issues raised by the Members of Congress from California and Oregon. It certainly appears this Administration will stop at nothing to achieve political gain from natural resources disasters. Ultimately, it will be hardworking Americans and their healthy environment that will lose if we fail to act."

Hopefully, this hearing will be convened soon and expose the web of political manipulation of science that resulted in the 2002 fish kills – and the massive die-offs of juvenile salmon and steelhead that have taken place every year since because of poor water quality conditions in the Klamath system.

Meanwhile, Klamath Basin Indian Tribes, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and conservationists are extremely concerned about the possibility of a major fish kill taking place this summer on the Klamath. As Klamath River temperatures rise and the region’s below average snow pack continues to recede, the Klamath River’s salmon are again in big trouble.

These conditions, coupled with increased observation of disease, mortality, and average run size predictions, recently prompted the Klamath Fish Health Assessment Team (KFHAT) to increase its fish kill readiness alert level to “yellow.” This group is a collaboration of agencies, tribes, and restoration organizations that formed during the summer of 2003 with the purpose of providing early warning and a coordinated response plan to avoid a fish kill.

In recent years juvenile salmon have been taking the brunt of the Klamath’s woes as several fish diseases plague the Klamath’s juvenile salmon, according to Regina Chichizola, the Klamath Riverkeeper.

“These diseases are particularly lethal in combination with increased temperature and static flow conditions caused by the Klamath Dams. People monitoring the river have already reported seeing dead fish,” said Chichizola.

“These juvenile fish kills show that our salmon are on the road to extinction,” Leaf Hillman, Vice chairman of the Karuk Tribe stated. “If we don’t take bold steps like removing Warren Buffett’s four Klamath dams, we’ll soon be past the point of no return.”

Warren Buffett in May refused to meet with representatives of Indian Tribes, commercial fishing groups and conservation organizations that traveled all of the way from the West Coast to the annual shareholders meeting of Buffett's Berkshire-Hathaway, the parent company that own's PacifiCorp's dams on the Klamath, in Omaha, Nebraska.