Judge Rules Against Farmer Water Claims
3/16/2007, 6:51 p.m. PT
The Associated Press
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) "A judge ruled Friday that a federal
irrigation district did not break any contracts with Klamath Basin farmers
when it shut off irrigation so there would be enough water for threatened
and endangered fish.
The ruling by Judge Francis M. Allegra in the U.S. Court of
Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., was his second against the farmer's
organization, the Klamath Irrigation District. Last August he ruled the
farmers had no property rights to the water and denied their claim for $100
million in damages.
"Here, as plaintiffs readily admit, there are no
unmistakable terms in any of the contracts precluding the government form
exercising its sovereign powers, indeed the water shortage clauses in most
of the contracts reflect the opposite intent," the judge wrote.
During a drought in 2001, the Bureau of Reclamation shut off
water to most of the 150,000 acres of the Klamath Reclamation Project, which
irrigates 1,000 farms straddling the Oregon-California border on the east
side of the Cascade Range.
The Endangered Species Act forced the shut-off to maintain
adequate water levels for endangered suckers in Upper Klamath Lake, the
irrigation project's main reservoir, and threatened salmon in the Klamath
River, the lake's natural outflow.
An Oregon State University study put crop losses between $27
million and $46 million. Congress authorized millions of dollars in aide to
farmers who lost crops.
"This ruling should finally shut the door on water disputes
from 2001," said Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's
Associations, which intervened on the side of the government in the case.
"People are working together to bring the water budget sheet back into
balance throughout the whole basin to prevent these types of crises in the
future."
Klamath farmer Mike Byrne and Bill Ganong, an attorney
representing farmers, did not immediately return telephone calls for
comment.
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