The Web site devoted to the conference describes the
negotiations behind two agreements, one which provides
for the possible removal of four dams along the Klamath
River, and one which sets up a restoration plan for the
entire Klamath Basin – the Klamath Hydroelectric
Settlement Agreement (KHSA) and the Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement, respectively.
“The negotiations were launched by a massive fish kill
in 2002, when water was directed away from the river for
irrigation purposes, resulting in approximately 50,000
adult salmon dying in the river. The agreements are
historic, creating the basis for the largest dam removal
project in history and bringing together the dam owner,
farmers, [fishermen], Indian tribes, governments and
environmentalists. The panel will discuss the unique
importance of the river to native people, the challenge
and opportunity of multi-party negotiations and the
necessity of the public/private partnership in this
transaction,” the site reads.
The session’s moderator is scheduled to be Kirk E.
Miller, chief counsel for the California Resources
Agency, with panelists John Bezdek of the United States
Department of the Interior (DOI), Dean Brockbank of dam
owner PacifiCorp, Troy Fletcher of the Yurok Tribe and
Richard Roos-Collins of the Natural Heritage Institute.
Guarino drafted and sent a letter to the Executive
Committee Environmental Law Section of the California
State Bar, stating, “These speakers represent the
proponents in favor of dam removal and give you an
exceptionally one-sided panel that has continually
presented a skewed view of these agreements and
negotiations.”
The DOI, represented by Bezdek, is the agency from which
the dam removal decision will come, as Secretary of the
Interior Ken Salazar will be making the decision after
the completion of numerous studies on the potential
effects of dam removal.
PacifiCorp and the Yurok Tribe are both signatories to
the KHSA.
According to the Natural Heritage Institute Web site,
Roos-Collins is the institute’s director of legal
services, and since 1991, “has represented public
agencies and non-profit organizations in water and
energy matters.”
Upon hearing that Miller would be the moderator, some of
the supervisors laughed, however, no discussion
regarding their reaction ensued.
Guarino expresses a concern in his letter that the panel
does not feature a representative from a group that did
not agree to sign on to the agreements, stating, “In the
past, panels have been balanced and have at least
provided the attendees the opportunity to hear both
sides of the issue.”
Guarino mentions in the letter that Siskiyou County has
been a long-time participant in the negotiations,
concluding his letter by stating, “It is respectfully
requested that the members of the Environmental Law
Section Executive Committee seriously consider balancing
this panel so that a skewed view is not presented to the
many practitioners who attend this conference.”
