Smith defends decision to divert water from river

By David Steves

The Register-Guard

Published: Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Sen. Gordon Smith said Tuesday that he has no regrets about the diversion of water from the Klamath River that was intended to protect fish but instead went to farmers.

The 2002 water diversion - and subsequent die-off of 77,000 salmon and eventual suspension of coastal fishing - was the subject of hearings that began last week in a U.S. House committee.

Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee are trying to determine whether Vice President Cheney's intervention in the Klamath River Basin's water management led to the die-off a few months later, which was the largest ever recorded in the West

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