Klamath farmers plan to sue government
for up to $1 billion
Sacramento Bee, 8/25/01
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Klamath Basin irrigation districts
representing area farmers plan to sue the federal government for
as much as $1 billion for damages caused by the water cutoff
this year.
The districts have retained the prominent Washington, D.C.,
property rights firm Marzulla & Marzulla to file the claim
on their behalf, said Bob Harrison, chief of legislative affairs
for the firm.
The case would be the largest of its kind and could be a
turning point in the stalemate over Klamath Basin water, which
this year was withheld from most farmers to sustain fish
protected by the Endangered Species Act.
The large claim could force the federal government into a
settlement that promises farmers the water they have demanded
all summer.
Attorneys Roger and Nancie Marzulla will file the claim
Friday in the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, D.C., Harrison
said.
He said the claim will seek compensation for irrigation
districts that did not receive expected water this summer and
probably for the city of Klamath Falls, which pledged money
toward the case.
Roger Marzulla won a significant water rights claim on behalf
of irrigators in the Tulare Lake area of central California
earlier this year.
The Klamath claim will not seek a specific dollar amount in
initial filings. That would be identified at a later stage,
Harrison said. But he said the attorneys calculate damages at
$250 million to $1 billion, based on the decline in land values
prompted by the cutoff of water, making it by far the largest
water-rights claim against the government.
Harrison said the irrigators are suing because they see
ongoing mediation of the Klamath water struggle ending in
stalemate.
The Marzullas are prominent in national property rights
groups. Roger Marzulla worked with Interior Secretary Gale
Norton at the Mountain States Legal Foundation in Denver and in
the Reagan administration. Norton remains "a close personal
friend" of the Marzullas, Harrison said.
Roger Marzulla also represented Nye County, Nev., in its
battles with the federal government over road closures on public
lands.
In the Tulare Lake case, the Court of Claims ruled that a
decision to withhold irrigation water for protected salmon and
smelt represented a government "taking" and farmers
were entitled to compensation for it.
Harrison said the Klamath farmers have a case "at least
as strong, if not stronger."
He said the firm hopes for a decision within 10 months.
Norton agreed to a limited release of water this summer that
ran out Thursday. Congress has authorized $20 million in
emergency aid to the about 1,400 farmers denied water.