---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 15, 2008

 
KLAMATH TRIBES WORK WITH NEIGHBORS TO SOLVE WATER CRISIS

“Putting the Basin Back Together” is Tribes’ goal;
Agreement with PacifiCorp is final hurdle

 
Chiloquin, Ore. -- The Klamath Tribes announced today that they are among
the Klamath Basin water interests considering whether to approve the
recently unveiled Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement.  If the Tribes’
General Council and other stakeholders ratify the agreement, it could usher
in a new era of water and resource management to the Basin and end years of
conflict.

“The Klamath Tribes have devoted years of effort to this agreement and have
worked hard to make it the best it can be for our members while respecting
the legitimate needs of others in the Basin,” said Tribal Chairman Joe Kirk.  
“We have been working hard to put the Klamath Basin back together again.  We
look forward to a thorough and careful review of what the negotiating group
has brought us.”

The Tribes’ own negotiating team has recommended approval of the agreement
to the Tribal Government. The Tribal Council recently endorsed the agreement
conditionally, depending on an appropriate settlement with PacifiCorp
regarding removal of dams from the Klamath River and related factors.

“As always, final decisions of this magnitude are reserved for our General
Council,” Kirk said. The General Council is the main decision-making body
for the Tribes, composed of all tribal members over 18 years of age.  The
Tribes are now scheduling meetings for the General Council’s review of the
agreement.

Jeff Mitchell, a Tribal Councilman active on the Klamath Tribes’ negotiating
team, encouraged acceptance of the agreement.  “This is a rare opportunity
to restore fish that were guaranteed to us in the Treaty of 1864 but have
been lost since PacifiCorp’s dams went in early last century,” he said.
“Removing the dams and stabilizing the water management situation in the
Basin is essential for all stakeholders and the environment.”

The agreement would secure more water for fish and improve fish habitat.  It
would also reduce overall agricultural diversions from Basin streams and
lakes, but provide much more reliable water supplies for Basin agriculture.  
It would also provide for Tribal development of forestry-based economic
enterprises on 90,000 acres of private forestland in northern Klamath County
that would come into Tribal ownership under the agreement.

Effectively putting the Basin back together again depends on PacifiCorp
becoming a partner in the restoration.  PacifiCorp is the Portland-based
utility that owns the Klamath dams.  It is a subsidiary of Mid-American
Energy Holdings Company which in turn is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire
Hathaway.  The Tribes have been urging PacifiCorp to give up the dams, which
provide very little energy and no water supply for agriculture, and have
kept salmon from returning to the Tribes’ homeland in the Upper Basin for 90
years.

The case for dam removal was strengthened recently by economic reports from
state and federal energy agencies that concluded dam removal is cheaper for
PacifiCorp’s customers than financing the upgrades needed to comply with
federal mandates for fish ladders.

“The dams are costing ratepayers money and are destroying extremely valuable
salmon runs,” Mitchell said.  “PacifiCorp’s cooperation makes sense for
everyone involved.  We call on the company to help us solve one of the
West’s most complex and bitter water wars.”

For more information, contact the Klamath Tribes’ negotiating team through
Jeff Mitchell at (541) 891-5971 or Bud Ullman at (541) 783-3081, or visit
www.klamathtribes.org.