Klamath News: Buffett refuses to meet with Tribes, Chefs for Wild Salmon

Klamath News: May 9th

* CHEFS LOBBY D.C TO SAVE WILD SALMON
* TRIBES TURN TO BUFFETT
* FIELDS OF CONFLICT IN THE KLAMATH
* BUFFETT SAYS REGULATORS, NOT PACIFICORP, WILL DECIDE DAMS' FUTURE
* TRIBE: BUFFETT' MISSES THE POINT
* CALIFORNIA TRIBES HOLD BRUSH DANCE FOR KLAMATH IN THE MIST OF WOODSTOCK OF
CAPITALISM

****Action Alerts****
COMMENT ON THE LOST RIVER POLLUTION CONTROL PLAN BY JUNE 15TH
http://www.klamathnews.org LAUNCHED: INDEPENDENT NEWS FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE KLAMATH


CHEFS LOBBY D.C TO SAVE WILD SALMON national campaign calls on Congress to pass legislation to restore river habitats and tear down dams along the Pacific coast.
A national consumer campaign to save wild salmon will launch in Washington today, as about 200 chefs from restaurants in 33 states call on Congress to pass laws to restore river habitats and tear down massive hydroelectric dams that have decimated salmon species along the Pacific coast.
The initiative, led by celebrity chef Alice Waters of Berkeley's Chez Panisse, follows last year's federal shutdown of 88% of the commercial salmon fishing along 700 miles of coastline in California and Oregon.
Marine scientists said the closure was necessary to allow salmon to spawn in the 260-mile Klamath River where competition for water among farmers, utility companies, Indian tribes and commercial fishermen has led to confrontations. The shutdown, however, led to commercial shortages.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-salmon8may08,1,4513145.story?coll=la-news-environment


TRIBES TURN TO BUFFETT
The news: North state tribes travel to Nebraska to ask Warren Buffett for the removal of Klamath River dams.
What's next: Buffett should hear the questions today at his company's annual shareholders meeting.
American Indians from the north state are in Nebraska, pleading with the world's second richest man to remove dams along the Klamath River.
"We're giving him the opportunity to do the right thing," said Ron Reed, a biologist for and member of the Karuk Tribe.
The contingent is made up of about 40 members of the Karuk, Hoopa Valley and Yurok tribes and some commercial fishermen. They traveled to Omaha, Neb., to attend Warren Buffett's annual shareholders' meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, his holding company. They are there to ask Buffett's company to remove hydropower dams from the Klamath to improve conditions for the river's salmon.
http://www.redding.com/news/2007/may/05/tribes-turn-to-buffett/


FIELDS OF CONFLICT IN THE KLAMATH
Activists say farmers are poised to solidify their presence in the basin's federal wildlife refuges.
Migratory birds are flocking to the basin's necklace of federal wildlife refuges straddling Oregon and California; one of the most important stops on the Pacific Flyway. As usual, the geese, mallards and terns are sharing the sanctuaries with tractors.
Agriculture fields have elbowed onto what once were marshes and shallow inland seas, shrinking the basin's wetlands by nearly 80%. Environmentalists have long fought to stop that farming, saying the refuges belong to the birds.
But now, activists say, farmers in the Klamath Basin appear poised to cement their presence on the refuges, the basin's most productive farmland.
Farmers are gaining an edge in closed-door settlement talks over the fate of four dams on the Klamath River, which meanders across two states before pouring into the Pacific Ocean north of Eureka, Calif.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-klamath7may07,0,7457311.story?coll=la-home-local


BUFFET SAYS REGULATORS, NOT PACIFICORP, WILL DECIDE DAMS' FUTURE
The Associated Press
OMAHA, Nebraska: Salmon fishermen and American Indian tribes from California and Oregon did not win billionaire Warren Buffett's support Saturday in their campaign to remove four dams from the Klamath River on the California-Oregon border.
Buffett said his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will not decide whether the dams its PacifiCorp subsidiary own on the river should be removed; that is a question for state and federal officials.
The groups, who staged protests in the days before Berkshire's annual meeting, wanted Buffett's help. They say the salmon population has suffered along the Klamath, and fishing in the area was nearly shut down last year.
During a question-and-answer period at the meeting, one of the women who asked about the dams said her family lost 95 percent of its income last year because her husband is a salmon fisherman.
"They're barely hanging onto their livelihoods because of the Klamath River crisis," the fisherman's wife said.
ttp://http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/05/business/NA-FIN-US-Berkshire-Klamath-River.php

TRIBE: BUFFETT MISSES THE POINT
A coalition of Klamath River-area tribes, fishermen and environmental groups converged in Nebraska this weekend to plead for the removal of the Klamath River dams they say are killing fish, destroying livelihoods and threatening cultures.
The four hydroelectric dams up for federal relicensing are owned by PacifiCorp.
The group's multi-state effort to raise awareness of the dams culminated in a rally Saturday at PacifiCorp parent company Berkshire-Hathaway's shareholders' meeting in Omaha, which was estimated to have attracted 27,000 attendees.
Also attending the meeting was Warren Buffett, Berkshire-Hathaway's reportedly environmentally friendly billionaire chief executive officer, who the group hoped would listen to their message.
Dam removal advocates cite state and federal energy agency studies that show PacifiCorp could save nearly $100 million by removing the dams rather than spending the millions needed for fish protection mitigations identified as part of the relicensing process.
Leading up to Saturday's rally, the tribes hosted a traditionally prepared roasted salmon meal on Thursday and performed a Brush Dance healing ceremony Friday.
http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=23716

CALIFORNIA TRIBES HOLD BRUSH DANCE FOR KLAMATH DURING WOODSTOCK OF CAPITALISM
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/05/358911.shtml

http://www.klamathnews.org LAUNCHED: INDEPENDENT NEWS FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE KLAMATH
http://www.klamathnews.org is a new webpage where you can read all about Klamath River Issues. The site is still in the process of being built. Right now it has detailed coverage of the Omaha and Portland "Bring the Salmon Home" events. In the future the site will have open publishing and people will be able to publish there own news items and events. It will also be a central site to read about how the Klamath is being covered in other news sites. We invite everyone to participate. The site is being developed and moderated by Klamath-Salmon Media Collaborative. Contact Shay, wildsalmon [at] riseup.net or (530) 627-3076.


COMMENT ON THE LOST RIVER POLLUTION CONTROL PLAN BY JUNE 15TH
The Lost River meanders between Oregon and California and is used and abused before being piped into the Klamath at the infamous Klamath Straits Drain. Much of the watershed is completely diverted, and large dairies, small Waste Water Treatment plants and industrial farms, including those on the Tule Lake Wildlife Refuge, have run off of chemicals, sewage and animal waste that directly enter the Lost River and the the Klamath.
This river has been completely written off as habitat for fisheries due to impacts from agriculture, yet it is piped into the Klamath during critical period for Klamath fish.
Please read the info below and then comment on this TMDL or Pollution Control Plan.
Sign onto the Klamath Riverkeeper's comments by emailing klamath [at] riseup.net or calling 530 627-3280.

EPA is soliciting public comments on proposed Total Maximum Daily Loads
(TMDLs) for Nitrogen and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) for several water bodies in the Lost River watershed in California.
The deadline for submitting comments on these draft TMDLs is on or before June 15, 2007. Comments may be mailed, faxed or emailed (please send a hard copy of your comments in additional to emailing them).
Contact information for submitting comments: Gail Louis (louis.gail [at] epa.gov) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 75 Hawthorne Street (WTR-3) San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 972-3467 Fax (415)947-3537

For further information about these TMDLs, including copies of the Public Draft TMDL document and technical support documents, please see EPA's website at: http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/tmdl/progress.html

Contact Klamath Riverkeeper at klamath [at] riseup.net or 530 627-3280 for more info , to get involved, or to donate.
The Klamath River News covers issues related to Klamath River environmental and social justice.
To get involved or add a story, contact the Klamath Riverkeeper at klamath [at] riseup.net or call (530) 627-3280 or 541 951-0126.
To be removed from list or subscribe go to https://lists.riseup.net/www and type in klamath list then hit subscribe or unsubscribe.

The Klamath River News covers issues related to Klamath River environmental and social justice.
To get involved or add a story contact the Klamath Riverkeeper at klamath [at] riseup.net or call (530) 627-3280 or 541 951-0126.
To be removed from list or subscribe go to https://lists.riseup.net/www and type in klamath list then hit subscribe or unsubscribe.