"Your report – Tribes Object to Chemical Tests on the Klamath River in the October 9 edition – quoted PacifiCorp spokespersons as stating that they are allowed to release algaecides into the Klamath River as one of the “interim measures” included in the KHSA Dam Deal. The Dam Deal also includes a provision for dispute resolution. The Karuk and Yurok Tribes are parties to the KHSA Dam Deal. That means they could have invoked the Deal’s dispute resolution process as a means to block PacifiCorp’s algaecide use.

The fact that these tribes did not invoke the process available to them to block use of the poison tells us a lot about current Klamath River politics. Instead of using the KHSA to block the algaecide tests, Craig Tucker, who helped lead the Karuk Tribe down the KHSA path, defended the company which he says is “under a lot of pressure” from regulators. In light of these facts Tucker’s promise that the Karuk Tribe will fight algaecide treatments next time rings hollow. The claims ring especially hollow in light of the recent secret Klamath Water Quality Conference which your taxes helped fund. At that secret Sacramento Conference, the use of toxic chemicals in other reservoirs was promoted as the preferred solution to the Klamath River Basin’s agricultural pollution. Why was the public locked out of a conference funded with taxpayer money?"

Get the Story:
Felice Pace: Klamath River Restoration Needs Tribal Unity (Two River Tribune 10/19)