The decision reverses the bureau's action of a year ago, in which the agency cut off all irrigation water to the 1,400 farm families in the region. The government said the reasons for the cutoff were an ongoing drought in the Pacific Northwest and the need to protect the sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake and the coho salmon downstream. Both fish are covered by the Endangered Species Act.

Farmers in the region responded with large protests, backed, and sometimes organized by, local businesses and others. The government action sharpened the divisions between the farmers on the one hand, and fishermen and the Klamath Indian Tribes--both of whom depend on the fish for a livelihood--on the other. The Klamath Indian Tribes have treaties with the U.S. government going back to 1864 guaranteeing water rights to support fisheries and other resources.

The plight of the farmers became a rallying point for many rightist organizations in the area who seized on the situation to rail against "big government" and "environmental groups that are trying to eliminate rural lifestyles in the Klamath basin."

In face of the protests the federal government announced it would release some water and promised to provide some compensation payments to affected farmers.

But in early February, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) concluded that there was no scientific basis for the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) decision, which was based on a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service directive last April that water diverted for farm irrigation would threaten the two species of fish.

As with other court decisions and government rulings citing environmental concerns as the reason to carry out a certain policy, many farmers in the Klamath basin said the BOR's move to cut off irrigation water had nothing to do with protecting the fish.

Gloria Palacios, a former raisin grower, said that behind the water crisis are "always big corporations that are using the environment issues for their own interests."

One example of this, farmers said at the time, was the energy monopolies. In the midst of skyrocketing prices charged by the electrical companies, cutting off water to farmers had a double benefit for big business. One was that electricity contracted by farmers at a lower rate was not used, making it available for sale at a much higher price on the open market. Additionally, water not used for irrigation adds to the flow downstream, where Pacific Power and Light owns and operates six hydroelectric projects along the Klamath River.

The BOR itself is an arm of the most powerful imperialist government in the world and serves the interests of the giant agribusinesses and energy monopolies. The agency is the largest wholesaler of water in the country and controls water access for one out of five farmers in the West, irrigating land that produces 60 percent of the nation's vegetable crop and 25 percent of its fruits and nuts. The agency runs 58 power plants that generate 40 billion kilowatt hours a year, making it the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the western United States.

Bill Kalman is a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.  
 
 
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