Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
Our Klamath Basin
Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
|
Calvert Questions Court Ruling at New Mexico Hearing FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Rebecca Rudman September 9, 2003 PHONE: 202-225-1986 CALVERT BLASTS COURT RULING AT RESOURCES HEARING IN NEW MEXICO WASHINGTON, DC - On Saturday, September 6, 2003, Congressman Ken Calvert (R-CA), a member of the U.S. House Resources Committee, attended a hearing regarding the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to divert water from agriculture for the endangered silvery minnow fish. At the hearing Rep. Calvert stated: "This ruling essentially ignores our nation's fundamental notion of private property freedoms by exerting federal control over locally controlled water resources. It's little wonder that this precedent makes many uneasy in my region of southern California who are left wondering what else is going to threaten the Colorado River, an already uncertain water supply. We have witnessed the Endangered Species impacts on Klamath farmers, then on Albuquerque and Santa Fe urban water users, and my region currently has endangered kangaroo rats and Delhi Sands Flower-loving flies, so many wonder who the next target will be." The hearing was in response to a June 2003 ruling by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that the Bureau of Reclamation has discretion to restrict water supplies to urban and agricultural water users for the silvery minnow. The ruling could set a precedent that would allow imported Colorado River water, already drawn on by seven states for urban and agricultural uses, to be available for solving unrelated and unintended endangered species needs. The hearing addressed the ramifications of the ruling and the effects they have had on the local economy, western water law and the role of federal control over local water resources. The hearing included testimony from state and local officials, farm representatives, and a lawyer that represented the plaintiffs in the silvery minnow case. "The Court's opinion also speaks volumes about the state of the Endangered Species Act," stated Rep. Calvert at the hearing. "Nearly everyone agrees with the need for endangered species protections, but it seems that more money is being spent on litigation and waging battles in the courts than on protecting species. No one ever intended this law to become the full employment act for lawyers and environmental extremists, but I'm concerned that it's going in that direction. It also says that long years of collaboration can be hijacked by fringe groups not happy with the initial outcome. It's time for a fresh look at the Endangered Species Act, if it can be carried out more effectively in a cooperative and scientific manner." |
Home
Page Updated: Saturday February 25, 2012 05:21 AM Pacific
Copyright © klamathbasincrisis.org, 2001, All Rights Reserved