Rate and tax payers excluded in drafting of Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement

Letter to the Editor

In his novel 1984, George Orwell beautifully illustrates how the political left manipulates language to pacify a society into compliance. The KBRA (Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement) uses this same technique to control public opinion.

We have all heard about the KBRA “stakeholders”. Like in a poker game, a stakeholder is one who sits at the table with a stake, something to win or lose. While proponents claim all the stakeholders gathered together and crafted the KBRA agreement — that is not what happened.

Two major “players” were purposely omitted from this grand poker game: basin electric rate payers and tax payers. Both groups were never invited to the table when writing the KBRA. Instead, the game has been rigged by the “stakeholders” (tribes, environmentalists, fishermen, some in agriculture) so they become the winners. The rest of us are the losers: more national debt passed to our children and increased power rates from the destruction of four hydropower dams — the cheapest power source in Pacific Power’s portfolio.

While the “stakeholders” walk away with the jackpot, the rest of us lose big time, never having a chance in this pre-determined game. Higher electric rates are assured, which means the Klamath Basin can kiss goodbye any chance of landing a big enterprise seeking cheap power.

These stakeholders have a better name, and you know what it is — special interest groups. That is the Orwellian trick. The KBRA proponents have replaced their “special interest” label with something more public-friendly, “stakeholders”. When their false label is removed, and real label revealed, it becomes clear that the KBRA stakeholders are no different than any other special interest groups — a few who band together for their exclusive benefit, to gang up and take from the rest of us

E. Werner Reschke
Small Business Owner
Malin, Oregon