March 6, 2019
Liz Writes Life
There was more rain and snow making closures on Forest Mt.
and on Interstate 5, last week, but it has barely snowed at my place near
Callahan. Buckets of water are still in my bathtub to flush the toilet, which
has made the power stay on! Lots of other folks haven’t been so lucky. My
brother, Steve Dillman, called on Wednesday and said his power had been off
since Sunday night. It started snowing and didn’t stop until it was 14-inches
deep up there in Douglas County, near Roseburg, Oregon. He is at 600 feet of
elevation!
Steve was ready for such a situation with a generator to keep
the freezer and refrig going in the house. He and wife, Janet, moved out into
the RV, which has propane for heat, stove and refrig. Besides lots of trees and
limbs crashing down throughout Oregon, he said the cell tower was out as well.
So, after driving 10 miles towards I-5, he found cell service and was getting
more propane. Sounded like they were doing OK and he called the situation “an
adventure.” When you are a helicopter pilot, most of life is a pretty good
adventure!
Garden
I didn’t get the lettuce seeds planted. The package is still
sitting on the kitchen table as a reminder, so maybe this week …
Veterans
I was happy to see a “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” will
be held on March 30, 2019 at 11 a.m. at the Siskiyou Golden Fairgrounds with
good organizers Mark Dean, Tom Jackson and Dan Morgan. Our county supervisors
passed a resolution extending their “congratulations, respect, and sincere
thanks to all Viet Nam Era veterans.”
Scammers
Last week, I received several more scammer calls. One wanted
to consolidate my credit cards – before I hung-up. As if in answer to my
frustration of the telemarketers and scammers, Siskiyou Telephone Co. sent an
FCC Consumer Advisory with info on the situation. The Federal Communications
Commission and the Federal Trade Commission are now sharing responsibility for
enforcing the National Do-Not-Call list. If you haven’t registered for the list
the number to call is 1-888-382-1222. I don’t recall if I am on it or not and
my cell certainly isn’t, so I will do it this week and see if it helps.
The advisory says that if the person is “live” you should
tell them that you are the telemarketer do-not-call list and get his or her
name. Then make a note of the time, date, business or request from the call as
you will need this info to file a complaint.
Here are the reasons of how and why to file a complaint.
Note: Apparently, complaints cannot be filed against charitable groups.
Violations that should be reported are: Calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.; or
the telemarketer leaves a message, but fails to leave a phone number that can
be used for the company specific do-not-call list; or you receive telemarketing
calls from organizations you have requested not to call you; or the
telemarketing firm fails to identify itself; or you receive a pre-recorded
commercial message that you do not have an established business relationship.
You can file a complaint by calling 1-888-225-5322. It may
take several months for your request to be on the do-not-call list actually
happens, so call and complain until at least three months has past, according
to the advisory info.
Klamath dams
With all the letters to the editor talking about the Klamath
dams this past week, I would like to again say – the four hydro-electric dams
are not yet coming out. It is not a done deal.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is proceeding with
the relicensing process that was petitioned by PacifiCorp back in 2004. As a
news reporter in the late 1990s, I began attending meetings where PacifiCorp
was beginning the process to re-license the dams. You see, it had obtained
licenses back when the dams were built and those licenses were about to expire in
2000. Typically, hydro-electric dams are licensed by FERC for 40 to 50 years.
Companies like PacifiCorp need to have certainty they will be able to be in
business for quite a while. I often wondered why PacifiCorp has never been
given the 50-year license, but has only been granted a one-year-at-a-time license
during the past 19 years. Bet it has something to do with the politics by those
who want the dams to be destroyed. You think?
After the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement failed to
obtain the millions of dollars needed from Congress to take the dams out, the
KBRA became defunct around 2016. Since then, the non-profit Klamath River
Renewal Corp. was established with the sole purpose of taking the four dams
out. As PacifiCorp has been backed into a corner for nearly two decades, it has
allowed KRRC to enter into a relicense agreement. That decision is now in front
of FERC, which must follow federal government processes regarding such a
project.
At the Feb. 19, 2019 meeting of the Siskiyou Co. Supervisors,
the county provided a presentation of its response to the CA. State Water
Resources Control Board’s release of the Draft Environmental Impact Report for
the Lower Klamath Project. No one was there to hear it, including me. Oops, so
I am reading it from the agenda on-line.
The county’s response is daunting explaining not only the bad
and old science that the Water Board used in its draft EIR, but outlines the
correct federal procedure that FERC will follow.
One sentence in the 37-page response by Siskiyou County hits
the nail on the head. It states: “The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
applies to projects that are carried out, financed, or approved in whole or in
part by federal agencies; therefore, FERC must prepare an environmental impact
statement prior to taking action with respect to the Proposed Project.”
I think this means the release of the Draft EIR by the state
put the cart before the horse as the federal EIS has not been developed or
released by FERC.
Our county’s response to the State Water Board’s Draft EIR
looks like it blew a lot of holes in the Draft EIR as well as the Definite Plan
provided by KRRC. I’ll provide specifics next week.
Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in
newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near
Callahan. Call her at 530-467-3515.
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