WALLY HERGER: “a government-caused disaster is bankrupting an entire farming community in the Klamath Basin of Northern California.…”

“a government-caused disaster is bankrupting an entire farming community in the Klamath Basin of Northern California. Families are being told simply that there is zero water for farming this year. It is an unspeakable tragedy and an appalling example of the power of the Endangered Species Act. This is a poster child for the need to reform this misguided law and for all that is wrong, unjust and unbalanced with extreme environmental policies. It is a heartbreaking example of how people, families and, indeed, entire communities, can be sacrificed at the stroke of a biologist's pen, and based on nothing more than incomplete data, speculation and guesswork. There is little consideration given to the human species under the Endangered Species Act. Once an animal or fish species is listed, its needs must come first, before the rights and livelihoods of the American people. This is not reasonable, it is not balanced, it is not prudent. Farmers should be irrigating right now, but the normally bustling towns of the Klamath Basin in Northern California and Southern Oregon are quiet. Without water for the crops that drive this economy, farmers cannot work in their fields; the fertilizer companies, the maintenance shops, all agricultural-related businesses are closing. Delivery trucks and processing plants sit idle. Unemployment will rise.”