Don Gentry: Agreements protect sovereignty of Klamath Tribes

When the Klamath Tribes first came to the negotiating table, we came with a commitment not to accept any deals that compromised our sovereign rights, the United States’ tribal trust responsibilities, or our senior water and fishing rights.

The Agreements that we negotiated advance these very principles. They reinforce our sovereignty, federal trust obligations and our senior water and fishing rights. These provisions are stated plainly in S. 2379, the Klamath Basin Water Recovery and Economic Restoration Act of 2014, a bill that is currently before Congress.

First and foremost, the Agreements would ensure that four Klamath River dams will be removed by 2020. PacifiCorp, the utility that owns the dams, has agreed to their removal. These dams exterminated the salmon and steelhead runs to the Klamath Tribes’ homelands, and continue to cause serious water quality and habitat problems along much of the Klamath River, threatening the remaining fish runs.

The Klamath Tribes retain our senior in-stream water rights and the other Klamath River Tribes retain their ability to adjudicate their own water rights. If for some reason the dams are not removed, the water sharing plan established in the Agreements would end. The Agreements also ensure that even after the dams come out the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act remain in effect.

The alternative to settlement is litigation. Even if this high risk strategy was to bear fruit, it would take decades—and the fish cannot wait decades.