NATIONAL PETITION
The
County Commissioners of: Klamath County, OR, Siskiyou County, CA and Modoc
County, CA
The Sheriffs of: Klamath County, OR, Siskiyou County, CA and Modoc County, CA
The
Governors of Oregon and California,
The
Oregon and California House of Representatives,
The
Oregon and California Senates,
The
Senate of the United States of America,
The
House of Representatives of the United States of America,
The
Citizens of: Klamath County, OR, Siskiyou County, CA and Modoc County, CA
The
Citizens of the States of Oregon and California,
The
Citizens of the United States of America
We, the undersigned citizens of the United States of America, being
aware of the emergency water and irrigation situation in the Klamath Basin of
Oregon State, and being aware of the blatantly harmful and unconstitutional
actions of Agencies of the Federal government with respect to that situation,
make the following statements:
1. The water rights to irrigation water in Klamath Lake, which result from the Klamath Project of the 1902 Reclamation Act, attach to the irrigated land as an "appurtenance" or appendage to the land. In plain English, the farmers who own land in the Klamath Basin irrigated by the water out of Klamath Lake, own the water rights.
2. The Endangered Species Act is an unconstitutional encumbrance on the lives of local citizens all over this nation, which interferes with their God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This “Act” is regularly used to deprive individual citizens and groups of citizens of property rights for frivolous reasons and without due process of law. This “Act” is a gross violation of limits on Federal government powers as described in the ninth and tenth amendments to the United States Constitution.
3. The efforts by the Federal Government to classify sub-species of plant or animal life as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, based upon their existence in particular water sheds or geographical regions, and then regulate citizen activity resulting from the same, are further examples of unconstitutional powers associated with this “Act” and are therefore null and void.
4. The decision by the United States Department of Agriculture and its various agencies to deny any irrigation water to the vast majority of farmers in the Klamath Basin based on the suckerfish located in Klamath Lake is a specific example of unconstitutional interference in the lives of hundreds of families within the Klamath Basin. Specifically, the Bureau of Reclamation lacks the discretion or power to reallocate water resources away from the owners of the water rights for such concerns.
5. The situation in the Klamath Basin for over 1400 hundred farming families has become critical and desperate. The ability to provide for their families, their livelihood and their very way of life is in danger of being destroyed by actions of federal agencies operating far outside of their constitutional bounds.
6. Urgent, immediate action is required to remedy this situation and provide relief to those thousands of citizens suffering as a result.
In short, this entire
situation is reprehensible and intolerable. It amazes us as citizens of this
Constitutional Republic that such a situation could ever arise in this nation and
we state directly, clearly and unequivocally that this situation can not be
allowed to stand.
We, therefore, appealing to the Supreme Creator for His assistance, do petition
and demand that officials of local, state and national government:
1. Cause all Federal Government agencies to immediately cease and desist from activities meant to deny the farmers of the Klamath Basin their water rights.
2. Instruct the Klamath Irrigation District to immediately repair and maintain the Klamath Basin irrigation system to prepare it for imminent full irrigation activity.
3. Open the irrigation gates at Klamath Lake as quickly as practicable to allow water to flow to the fields of farmers who so desperately need it.
4. Provide immediate relief and assistance through the Congress of the United States to the farmers of the Klamath Basin to make restitution for the current year’s losses resulting from the actions of federal agencies in this regard.
5. Immediately cut off funding for the Endangered Species Act by the Congress of the United States.
6. Cede back, from the United States Bureau of Reclamation to the local governments, the entirety of the Klamath Basin Project, and that such action become a model for similar disposals throughout the several states of the United States of America.
7. Immediately ease and desist any involvement by Federal, State and local governments in any activities associated with the United Nation Bio-diversity, sustainable development, World Heritage, buffer zones, wilderness habitat, Agenda 21 or any other UN programs which in any way lead to, cause, or re-enforce the type of unconstitutional activities currently being experienced by the citizens of the Klamath Basin in this regard.
The situation is critical.
Thousands of individuals are being unjustly deprived of their water rights in
the Klamath Basin, and by extension, of their land rights and their liberty.
Such actions are intolerable, and if allowed to proceed will represent tyranny
descending upon this nation’s heartland. To such tyranny, to such conditions,
and to those abetting or supporting them we raise our collective voices and
proclaim,
Not in America! Let the water flow!
Failure to redress this
grievous wrong will only embolden and enable similar acts elsewhere in this
nation. In soberness we warn those bureaucrats, administrators and politicians
who either support such activities, or turn a blind eye to them, to guard well
what they foist on the agricultural community of this nation. Your very careers
depend on you ceasing and reversing such actions. Ultimately, because the food
growers of this nation are so critical to its well being, the very peace and
tranquility of our entire society may well depend on it.