Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

What we're hearing on this amendment and as to the amendment itself is certainly a switch from what we've been hearing over the past couple of days. I say that because this amendment is a Washington, D.C., solution to a very, very local issue.

This amendment would stop a comprehensive local solution to a major and very costly problem in the Klamath River Basin.

This effort at the local level, supported by farmers and ranchers, fishermen, conservation groups, the privately owned power company in question, tribes, as well as the States of California and Oregon, it has a very bipartisan root. It was negotiated under both the Bush administration and the Obama administration.

It's a study. It does not, nor is it an agreement to, remove any dams.

All the local communities in the Klamath Basin, even those who were opposed to dam removal, support the completion of the study and they are at the table working on this specific issue.

Even the California Farm Bureau is in support of completing this study. It needs to be noted that only Congress can authorize dam removal.

This amendment is not wanted by any of the stakeholders: agriculture, conservation, local government, the dam owners, sportsmen and -women, nor the tribes. It will exacerbate the already serious problems we face in the Klamath Basin watershed.

I ask my colleagues to please join me in voting against this bad amendment.

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Mr. THOMPSON of California. I thank the gentleman, and I want to agree with you, Mr. Dicks, on the salmon implications of this, and also Mr. Walden, who talked about the agricultural implications of not having a solution. This has been an absolute mess for decades, and we've seen the fruits of that disaster bear out in the salmon industry crashing and agricultural problems that we have.

And for the first time in decades, first time ever, we have had all the stakeholders come together. These are people who you couldn't get in the same town with before who are sitting around the same table. They are working out solutions. They have come to some agreements. And this study has to be made, and, Mr. Dicks, you are absolutely right.

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Mr. THOMPSON of California. I just want to clarify one issue, and that's the cost of energy as a result of this. If this isn't solved, the dam owners, the private owners that are supporting this study will have to make repairs to the dam that far exceed other costs and will drive the ratepayers' utility rates up through the roof. That's why the statement was made about those costs of utilities and the costs to the ratepayers.

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