US Dept. of Interior
Teleconference to announce Klamath agreement
November 13, 2008
2:30 PM ET
Moderator: Chris Paolino
Dirk Kempthorne: I appreciate this chance to be with Governor Kulongoski, and I will also add that I just spoke to Governor Schwarzenegger as we make this historic announcement, and to sign, on behalf of the United States, an agreement that fulfills the vision of peace, finally, in the Klamath Basin and sets in process the potential removal of four hydropower projects on the Klamath River.
When I was governor of Idaho, we were so dismayed as the events unfolded with our Western neighbors in the Klamath Basin -- images that we thought we’d never witness in our lifetime emerged from those horrible drought seasons. The troubles, with farmers opposing fish, became the poster child of why some said the Endangered Species Act was dysfunctional. The water shortage pitted neighbors, including Indian neighbors, against each other. The Federal Government was forced to shut off irrigated agriculture through a process of choosing winners and losers through litigation. And then we had the fish kill disaster.
But this announcement that we make today will go a long way to ensure that those images will not endure. In the aftermath of those dark days, President Bush directed the Department of the Interior to lead a collaborative process to assess the problems of the Basin and develop a comprehensive approach to permanently solve the seemingly intractable problems.
After living moments that would tax the character of most anyone, the good people of the Basin came together in a process that took several years of challenging negotiations. In January of this year, in an unprecedented effort in collaboration, the proposed Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement was released. This moment was captured by the presence of those who stayed at the table, including agriculture, tribal, and environmental representatives who joined together to offer the agreement as a path forward to provide a permanent path forward for water certainty, power reliability, and natural resource protection.
The January agreement called for additional discussions on the removal of the four hydropower projects owned by PacifiCorp. So let me be clear -- as Governor Kulongoski and Governor Schwarzenegger know, I am a conspicuous opponent of eliminating federal hydropower projects in the West. I spent considerable time as Governor of Idaho arguing for a balance of power generation and reliability with species conservation, and all without taking out any dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers.
But here, we asked PacifiCorp to come to the table with us and explore how we could negotiate a good business decision for the company. How could we make this a decision that would benefit the resources in California and Oregon and yet make business sense to the company? Most businesses don’t simply relinquish their profitable assets for some perceived greater good, especially in the area of renewable energy.
We worked tirelessly for months to achieve an agreement that calls for responsible review of the costs by the Federal Government to remove the projects and provide appropriate liability protection for the company, California, and Oregon. If the data collected during the next four years shows that removing the hydropower facilities is environmentally prudent, the target for removing all four of the dams is the year 2020.
I appreciate the great leadership of Governors Kulongoski and Schwarzenegger in not only staying at the table for these negotiations, but also for providing a platform by which Californians and Oregonians will have a future in the Klamath Basin through the restoration period. Governor Kulongoski, your team, including Mike Carrier from your office and Kurt Burkholder from the attorney general’s office, was instrumental in seeing us to this great day.
Governor Schwarzenegger’s team, including Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman, who’ll speak in just a moment, and Lewis Morrow [ph] of legal affairs in the governor’s office, was instrumental in seeing us to this great day.
I also acknowledge the willingness of PacifiCorp to come to the table and enter into these discussions, and I applaud the leadership by the company’s Chairman and CEO, Greg Abel, who’s on this call as well; and Dean Brockbank and Andrea Kelley, who I have had the pleasure of visiting with on several occasions during this process.
I want to thank members of our team, including Steve Thompson, who tackled the tough job of leading the Klamath Basis Restoration discussion, from his position as former Regional Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service in Sacramento.
And I also want to acknowledge the work of Mike Guzman from the Justice Department, and John Bezdek, in our Solicitor’s Office, for their dedication and commitment to achieving this agreement. I also need to acknowledge one of my champions, my legal counsel, Michael Bolger, for his tireless efforts as well.
This announcement today marks the first step in a future process; but it is a giant step. We’ve had some additional negotiations-- or, we have some additional negotiations to be concluded into a final agreement; but we’re sure that the fundamental framework to achieve our goal is captured in this extensive and robust document that we will sign. We will ensure that this agreement is an indelible part of the larger vision of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement announced earlier this year.
President Bush is proud and grateful for all the courage shown by all of the Klamath Basin parties, who challenged themselves to make the tough compromises that are embodied in the KBRA. Without that compromise, this day would have never been achieved.
In closing, this agreement provides a new horizon on permanently solving the very difficult issues in the Klamath Basin. The tribes that were once on opposite sides of their neighbors now have certain hope for the future of their precious resources. The hopes for continuity of irrigated agriculture in the Klamath Basin are now greatly advanced by this agreement. Finally, we all are gratified at this moment for the bright future of these invaluable fisheries resources and for the river which will sustain them. May the work that we’ve put into these agreements extinguish, once and for all, the powerful forces that once divided Californians and Oregonians.
With that, I look forward to the Governor’s comments and Mr. Abel’s and Mr. Chrisman.
Ted Kulongoski: Thank you, Governor-- Dirk, I keep calling you “Governor.” Secretary Kempthorne. We’ve worked together for so many years. I just want to thank you very, very much. And you are correct. This is Governor Kulongoski, and this is an historic moment because this agreement represents many years of hard work to determine the very best way to restore the Klamath River and the salmon and steelhead population.
I want to thank you, Mr. Secretary, first of all, because I know very, very well that this would have never happened without you. And I want to thank you for your vision and commitment that provided the leadership necessary to make this agreement happen.
I want to also thank, for a moment, Greg Abel of MidAmerican Energy and his associates at PacifiCorp. I cannot tell you what a partner PacifiCorp is; a great corporate citizen, but a partner to Oregon, not just on this project but a number of different projects. And on this one, I think Greg and his people have demonstrated a steadfast desire to resolve this issue and work with us to find different solutions whenever obstacles arose. So they stayed the course, and I’m just very, very grateful.
A moment about the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement. This commitment, and to remove the dams, combined with the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement reached a year ago, has the potential to end the conflict in the Klamath Basin over water, fish, and power generation that has pitted, many times, farmers, tribes, and whole communities against each other. But I want to go back where I started and just thank all of the parties that were a part of this; because I think this agreement in principle is the framework for resolution of this. And it’s a model, not only for the West, but it is a model for the rest of the country -- how the federal, state governments, and the private industries can all work together.
My commitment as the Governor of Oregon is, in signing this agreement, I am committing, to all of the parties who will benefit from this in the Greater Basin Agreement, my full support and energy to implementing this measure, meeting the timetables and achieving the goals of both accords.
We will be introducing legislation to ensure that we build a dam decommissioning and removal fund. We’re going to partner with the next Secretary of the Interior and Governor Schwarzenegger to fulfill our obligations under this agreement. We’re going to advocate very strenuously for the funding and actions called for in the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement. And I will assist PacifiCorp in replacing the hydro energy these dams produce with even better renewable energy. I truly believe that this agreement certainly reflects, as I’ve said time and time again, the leadership, the right attitude, and our shared optimism for a better life, a better environment, and a better future for Oregon and our values here in the West.
Dirk, I cannot thank you enough; and I hope Secretary Chrisman lets Governor Schwarzenegger know, for all the effort and time that he’s put into this and for PacifiCorp and all the other parties -- this is a combined effort on all of our parts and I think it is truly, as I said, a historic moment because it proves once again that if we work together, there’s nothing that we cannot accomplish. So thank you very, very much. And I’d like to turn this over the Secretary Chrisman at this time.
Mike Chrisman: Thank you, Governor Kulongoski. On behalf of Governor Schwarzenegger, it’s a pleasure for me to participate in this call today. I can’t add a lot to what Secretary Kempthorne said and what Governor Kulongoski have said. On a personal note, I want to second what Governor Kulongoski said and others have said about Secretary Kempthorne’s commitment, Secretary Kempthorne’s leadership, in this effort. This clearly would not have happened without the good work of Secretary Kempthorne and his able right hand, Michael Bolger. So thank them very much for their effort. And of course, the team at PacifiCorp, Andrea Kelley and others who worked to get this effort done. It’s a critical time in the history of the Klamath given all that’s happened, given the signing of the Klamath Basin Settlement Agreement last January. This agreement in principle is key to moving forward to getting the agreement finally penned next June, and we really look forward to it.
From California’s perspective, there’s tremendous opportunity here and we look forward to continuing these conversations into the next administration and beyond to really finally realize the vision that’s embedded in this document. So again, thank you to everybody who’s participated in this effort.
Greg Abel: Secretary Chrisman, this is Greg Abel. Thanks for your comments. We are very pleased to be executing the Klamath agreement in principle because it is reflective of how MidAmerican Energy and PacifiCorp conduct business, even though I would note this agreement is far from business as usual.
Simply put, our organizations are focused on delivering balanced outcomes to all of our stakeholders. This agreement protects our customers, addresses the compelling public policy goals of our federal and state governments, responds to the broader needs of our community and community voices, while at the same time respecting the environment we operate within.
The agreement in principle delivers fair and balanced outcomes to all of our stakeholders. This agreement meets essential objectives we established for protecting our customers when we initiated settlement discussions several years ago, and we are proud to be moving forward with a detailed framework.
We thank all the parties to this critical first step in moving toward the final agreement. Governor Kulongoski, Secretary Chrisman, and Secretary Kempthorne, I thank you for your kinds words regarding the PacifiCorp team, but I also express my sincere thanks, and thanks from my team, to your teams for working with PacifiCorp to reach this pivotal moment. And we invite all interested parties to work with us going forward as we move to delivering a balanced and sustainable outcome for the Klamath Basin.