Farmers welcome new federal rule on water quality WOTUS, CFBF 1/29/2020. "...The new rule also describes what is not subject to federal control, such as features that only contain water due to rainfall; groundwater; many ditches; prior converted cropland; farm and stock watering ponds; and waste treatment systems..."

* Senator Jeff Merkley needs to talk to Klamath ranchers, by Bill and Nedra Boyd, Chiloquin, for H&N 1/29/2020. "With no real substantial solutions to this problem since 2013, Sen. Jeff Merkley is now adding another $11 million to the Basin plus $5.1 million to the Klamath River this year, to be added to the $23.5 million given to the Basin in 2013 for this study...Until the facts are in place and it is a water issue, the Tribes and OWRD should not be able to shut off the water in the Basin."

Klamath dam removal draws closer, KRRC awaits FERC decision in March, H&N 1/28/2020.  According to KRRC Community Liason, “None of the water that is stored in hydroelectric reservoirs is used for agriculture,” he said. “It’s not used for municipal diversions. It’s not used for farms and ranchers – that water is used to produce hydro-power.”

* Comments Due February 7, 2020 - http://waterresilience.ca.gov State Agencies Release Draft Water Resilience Portfolio.   "The California Natural Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Food and Agriculture developed the draft to fulfill Governor Gavin Newsom’s April 29 executive order calling for a portfolio of actions to ensure the state’s long-term water resilience and ecosystem health.
  2020 Water Resilience Portfolio - http://waterresilience.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/California-Water-Resilience-Portfolio-2019-Final2.pdf : Manage groundwater, assist in Klamath Dam Removal, plan for climate change, plan for upcoming 500 million people in California...

EPA News Release: More Widespread Support for EPA and Army's Navigable Waters Protection Rule – A New Definition of WOTUS, 1/24/2020
"Congressman Doug LaMalfa (CA-01): "The Obama Administration’s ill-advised attempt to expand the WOTUS definition left a major burden on private landowners and farmers. I commend President Trump for empowering state and local governments to protect water resources by establishing the Navigable Waters Protection Rule. This is a common-sense change that gives landowners the flexibility to maintain their own land without overreaching federal input."
"House Committee on Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Greg Walden (OR-02): "For years, farmers and ranchers across Oregon have expressed their concerns to me about the heavy-handed Obama-era definition of WOTUS. They stressed that their intermittent stream or irrigation ditch would be subject to the burden of overreaching federal regulation. The EPA’s new definition of WOTUS will both protect our environment and our rural communities. Today’s announcement is welcome news for rural Oregon. I applaud President Trump and his administration for listening to the concerns of America’s farmers and ranchers and delivering on the promise to revise WOTUS."

LaMalfa Praises Senate for USMCA Passage, LaMalfa News Release 1/16/20
USMCA:
  *   180,000 jobs created
  *   $70 billion increase to our GDP
  *   $20 billion more exports to Mexico
  *   $15 billion more exports to Canada
California exported $48.5 billion in goods to Canada and Mexico in 2018
  *   Mexico: $30.7 billion
  *   Canada: $17.8 billion

New Laws 2020 Edition - California Capitol Update Friday, January 10, 2020, CFRW. "SB 104- California is now the first state in the nation to offer free healthcare to illegal immigrants who are between the ages of 19-25. We already provided this to illegal immigrant children, this is an expansion of that program....Governor Newsom unveiled his 2020 budget this week and it clocked in at $222 billion, the largest spending plan in our state's history...In just a decade, our state budget has grown by almost $90 billion... "Despite the $64 billion in additional Medi-Cal spending, researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research did not detect significant improvements in patient health", according to Assemblyman Kiley. Furthermore, "after a $39 billion increase in education spending, the National Assessment of Educational Progress finds that Californian's 8^th grade math and reading scores continue to decline". And finally, Assemblyman Kiley stated that "despite $7 billion in additional spending on social and welfare programs, the Census Bureau reports California continues to have the highest level of poverty in the nation."

PNWA Press Release - Study: U.S. would lose over $2.3 billion by breaching lower Snake River dams. Loss of dams would also significantly increase carbon emissions and impacts to fragile economies 1/6/2020.

Merkley facilitates follow-up summit on sucker recovery, H&N 1/5/2020. "Merkley has delivered $23.5 million to the Basin since 2013 to find a way toward a solution..."
KBC NOTE: Did Merkley address the fact that our government spent millions of $ to build manmade islands in our Klamath basin refuges: to lure fish-eating Caspian Terns from the Columbia that were eating millions of tiny salmon? Now tiny suckers? "...the Columbia River has been responsible for around 15 million to 20 million salmon smolts being eaten annually. The cormorant population growing on East Sand Island is estimated to be responsible for an additional 11 million young salmon each year." More articles on Refuge Page. Did he address the fact that the NRC Chairman Dr William Lewis Jr stated at a Klamath Science Workshop: "Lewis explained that the suckers were listed since 1988 because of over harvest.  They stopped fishing in '87 but they did not recover. The lake has gone from 3' range under natural conditions to experiencing 6' deep in current dry years. With charts and graphs he showed the habitat and water quality, algae and chlorophyll. He said that the committee looked extensively at water levels, and they find 'no hint of a relationship'. He also said that there was no relationship between lower water levels and extreme ph levels. And "the committee cannot support the idea that water levels effect algae growth.' "It can not be achieved by lake levels." '92 was the lowest water year, and they expected it to be the least favorable for fish. 'The lowest water year produced the same amount of larvae as other years.  He said that fish kill information does not support that fish are dying by changing water level." Here for KBC's Science Page

Study Looks at Benefits and Liabilities of Snake River Dams, Intermountain Farm and Ranch 1/3/2020.