Richard "Wise Use" Pombo Sets Hearing for ESA on July 17

Resources Committee to hold ESA Hearing on
The Klamath Project

Washington, DC - House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) announced that the Committee will hold a field hearing in Klamath Falls, Oregon on the Endangered Species Act.

The hearing, to be held at 9:00 a.m. on July 17 at the Ross Reglund Theatre in downtown Klamath Falls, will cover the Endangered Species Act's impact on the Klamath Project, one of the nation's oldest federal irrigation projects.

The Klamath Project was the subject of international coverage in 2001 when Endangered Species Act regulations protecting sucker fish and coho salmon forced the bulk of the
project to virtually shut down its water delivery system for almost the entire growing season.

Local business leaders estimate that the termination of water deliveries in 2001 inflicted $200 million worth of economic
damage on the Klamath Basin community.

Although federal and state efforts have focused on resolving the situation, the Klamath project was nearly shut down last summer because of Endangered Species Act requirements. Klamath irrigators face another dry summer this year, prompting many worries of another devastating irrigation water
cut-off. Meanwhile, a National Research Council Report last year questioned some of the underlying endangered species science behind the 2001 shut down.

Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-CA), Chairman, Committee on Resources

The water shut-off in the Klamath Basin is a dramatic example of how, after 30 years, the Endangered
Species Act has failed the species it was designed to recover. Unintended consequences have
devastated communities. We must find a sound and alanced approach, one that conserves species while caring for our local communities as well. This hearing is
specifically designed to discuss the abuse of this law and to find a scientific solution to updating and
improving the ESA so that further generations will not have to suffer as the Klamath farmers have.

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), Chairman, Subcommittee on Water and Power

We owe the American people the very best scientific answers when it comes to balancing human water needs with endangered species protection. Time and again, we have found that the Endangered Species Act needs to be updated to both improve species protection and provide
needed water to our farmers snd cities. When the science has been questioned by a team of independent, qualified biologists and that two conflicting species regulations continue to provide environmental and water use uncertainty
in the Klamath basin, it's our duty to help provide the roadmap to resolution and this hearing will
help accomplish that.

Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), Chairman, Subcommittee on Forests and Forest
Health

Time and time again we have seen how the use of questionable science in
the implementation of the
Endangered Species Act has thrown communities like the Klamath Basin into
economic upheaval with no
benefit to the threatened species. During next month's hearing we will
examine the National Academy
of Sciences final report that repudiated the scientific justification
behind the 2001 water
shut-off. Hopefully by studying the Klamath Basin water crisis and
similar situations across the
United States, we can develop a blueprint for making common sense
improvements to the ESA that
benefit both species and property owners.

Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)

The Klamath basin farmers have suffered long enough at the hands of bad
science and an inflexible
Endangered Species Act (ESA). We look forward to this hearing and the
long over-due investigation
on the impacts of the ESA and the recommendations from the National
Research Council.

Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA)

The 2001 Klamath Basin water shut off was a tragedy that could have, and
should have been avoided.
Thanks to the diligence of biologists, community leaders and the National
Academy of Sciences, we
now know the demands for water from our farmers is political, and
completely devoid of scientific
grounding. Now, more than three years later, the Klamath farming
community still faces hardships
resulting from the 2001 shut off.

Along with Congressmen Doolittle and Walden, I requested this hearing to
shed national light on how
speculation and a radical agenda influenced the Klamath decision, and how
an inflexible Endangered
Species Act prevented any alternatives. I would like to thank Chairman
Pombo and Chairman Calvert
for agreeing to hold this hearing, and for their continued support of
sound science and Klamath
Basin agriculture.