Wyden, Merkley and Bentz urge unity in facing severe Klamath Basin water challenge
WASHINGTON (KTVZ) -- Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., issued the following joint statement Saturday about the significant water challenges in the Klamath Basin this year.
“The latest chapter of the ongoing challenge in the Klamath Basin requires a unified approach locally and within the Oregon delegation to secure every possible short-term resource to help the Basin. That same unity is required in the work on the long-term solution that all responsible parties in the region know is needed so urgently.
“That’s why the three of us are continuing to work together to get additional federal resources from the Departments of Interior and Agriculture, so we can all work collaboratively to weather this difficult year. The Klamath Basin needs us to stay together in this battle, and hopefully we will set the trend for how all of us can approach this important work.”
According to The Associated Press, the water crisis along the California-Oregon border went from dire to catastrophic this week as federal regulators shut off irrigation water to farmers from a critical reservoir and said they would not send extra water to dying salmon downstream or to a half-dozen wildlife refuges that harbor millions of migrating birds each year.
In what is shaping up to be the worst water crisis in generations, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said it will not release water this season into the main canal that feeds the bulk of the massive Klamath Reclamation Project, marking a first for the 114-year-old irrigation system. The agency announced last month that hundreds of irrigators would get dramatically less water than usual, but a worsening drought picture means water will be completely shut off instead.
The entire region is in extreme or exceptional drought, according to federal monitoring reports, and Oregon’s Klamath County is experiencing its driest year in 127 years.
