{"id":4287,"date":"2026-06-25T07:26:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/home\/?page_id=4287"},"modified":"2026-08-07T09:43:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T17:43:45","slug":"lawfare","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/home\/district-governance-accountability\/lawfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawfare"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1248px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column 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margin:2.2rem 0 0;\n  padding-top:1.2rem;\n  border-top:1px solid var(--line);\n  font-size:.87rem;\n  color:var(--muted);\n}\n.kid-lf__foot p{margin:0 0 .6rem !important;}\n.kid-lf__foot p:last-child{margin:0 !important;}\n\n\/* ---------- Responsive ---------- *\/\n@media (max-width:860px){\n  .kid-lf__pull{padding:1.25rem 1.3rem;}\n  .kid-lf__status{padding:1.5rem 1.4rem 1.6rem;}\n}\n@media (max-width:640px){\n  .kid-lf{padding:6px 2px 24px;font-size:1rem;}\n  .kid-lf__event{grid-template-columns:1fr;gap:.5rem;}\n  .kid-lf__event-date{padding-top:0;}\n  .kid-lf__ask{grid-template-columns:2.2rem minmax(0,1fr);gap:.8rem;}\n  .kid-lf__ask::before{width:1.85rem;height:1.85rem;font-size:.78rem;}\n  .kid-lf a.kid-lf__btn{width:100%;text-align:center;}\n}\n<\/style>\n\n\n<!-- ============================ MASTHEAD ============================ -->\n<header class=\"kid-lf__head\">\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__eyebrow\">Records & Advocacy \u00b7 Regulatory Fairness<\/p>\n  <h1 class=\"kid-lf__title\">Lawfare Against Klamath Farmers<\/h1>\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__hook\">A fifty-year record, assembled and filed with the U.S. Small Business Administration\u2019s Office of the National Ombudsman.<\/p>\n  <span class=\"kid-lf__stamp\">Filed 7 August 2026 \u00b7 Submission open<\/span>\n<\/header>\n\n\n<!-- ============================ LEAD ============================ -->\n<p class=\"kid-lf__lead\">\n  Klamath Irrigation District delivers water to roughly <strong>1,200 family farms<\/strong> across southern Oregon\n  and northern California. Most of that ground was awarded by the United States to returning veterans of the First\n  and Second World Wars in lotteries held between 1922 and 1949 \u2014 applicants who had to show farming\n  experience, savings and good character, then live on the land and prove up before receiving title. Their\n  descendants still farm it.\n<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"kid-lf__lead\">\n  On 6 August 2026 the District filed a documented record with two federal offices showing that the water supply\n  promised in exchange for developing this basin has been rendered, over five decades,\n  <strong>uncompensable, unenforceable and unreviewable<\/strong>. This page publishes that record in full.\n<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"kid-lf__def\">\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__def-label\">A note on the word<\/p>\n  <p>\n    \u201cLawfare\u201d is used here in the sense adopted by the federal offices reviewing this matter. In 2026 the\n    SBA Office of the National Ombudsman executed a Memorandum of Understanding with USDA to engage in a\n    collaborative effort against lawfare affecting agricultural producers. K.I.D.\u2019s submission was made under\n    that effort. The District\u2019s complaint is directed at the conduct of federal agencies and the structure of\n    federal litigation \u2014 not at its neighbours in this basin.\n  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"kid-lf__btnrow\">\n  <a class=\"kid-lf__btn\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/KID_SBA_Key_Documents_A.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Start here \u2014 Key Documents (32 pp.)<\/a>\n  <a class=\"kid-lf__btn kid-lf__btn--ghost\" href=\"#kid-lf-record\">Jump to the full record<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<!-- ============================ THE FINDING ============================ -->\n<section class=\"kid-lf__section\" style=\"margin-top:3rem;\">\n  <h2 class=\"kid-lf__h2\">The Finding<\/h2>\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__h2-note\">What the assembled record shows<\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"kid-lf__pull\">\n    <p>\n      The harm to Klamath farmers is not the product of a single agency decision. It is a fifty-year pattern in\n      which federal litigation kept Oregon\u2019s water rights adjudication from concluding, federal claims for one\n      tribe were withheld from that adjudication entirely, and the rights the adjudication did determine have since\n      been rendered uncompensable, unenforceable and unreviewable.\n    <\/p>\n    <cite>K.I.D. submission to the SBA Office of the National Ombudsman, 7 August 2026<\/cite>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__intro\">\n    Oregon\u2019s general adjudication of Klamath Basin water rights is the process that determines who holds\n    what right, and in what priority. It is a state proceeding, and Congress has required the United States to\n    take part in exactly this kind of proceeding under the McCarran Amendment, 43 U.S.C. \u00a7 666. The record\n    below traces what the United States did instead.\n  <\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<!-- ============================ TIMELINE ============================ -->\n<section class=\"kid-lf__section\">\n  <h2 class=\"kid-lf__h2\">Fifty Years, Documented<\/h2>\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__h2-note\">Every entry is supported by a stamped exhibit page \u2014 click any citation to open the volume<\/p>\n\n  <ul class=\"kid-lf__timeline\">\n\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__event\">\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-date\">September 1975<\/div>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-body\">\n        <h3>The United States files in federal court three months before Oregon can begin<\/h3>\n        <p>\n          Oregon commenced its general adjudication on 23 December 1975. Three months earlier, while the State was\n          preparing to commence, the United States filed <em>United States v. Adair<\/em> in federal court instead.\n          The Ninth Circuit later recorded that the state proceeding was stayed while the federal suit was pending.\n          Oregon could not issue its notice to file claims until September 1990 \u2014 a delay of fifteen years.\n        <\/p>\n        <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_I_Ex1-8.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 1 - opens Volume I (Exhibits 1-8), PDF\">Ex. 1 at 22 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/li>\n\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__event\">\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-date\">1994<\/div>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-body\">\n        <h3>The United States sues Oregon to keep the adjudication from proceeding \u2014 and loses<\/h3>\n        <p>\n          When Oregon moved to collect claims, the United States contended the adjudication was not a proceeding in\n          which federal and tribal rights could be determined. The Ninth Circuit rejected that position, holding\n          that the Klamath Basin adjudication is precisely the sort of proceeding Congress meant to require the\n          United States to join under the McCarran Amendment. <em>United States v. Oregon<\/em>, 44 F.3d 758 (9th Cir. 1994).\n          Federal claims were finally filed in 1997 \u2014 twenty-one years after the adjudication commenced.\n        <\/p>\n        <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_I_Ex1-8.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 3 - opens Volume I (Exhibits 1-8), PDF\">Ex. 3 at 8\u201312 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/li>\n\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__event\">\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-date\">January 1997<\/div>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-body\">\n        <h3>Claims for the Yurok Tribe are never filed \u2014 while the same rights are asserted elsewhere<\/h3>\n        <p>\n          Four months before the court-ordered claiming period closed, the Regional Solicitors advised that the\n          Yurok and Hoopa Valley Tribes held unadjudicated water rights vested at the latest in 1891, and that no\n          specific statutory directive was needed for Reclamation to manage irrigation deliveries to protect senior\n          tribal water rights. Nothing was filed for those rights in Oregon\u2019s adjudication.\n        <\/p>\n        <p>\n          Interior\u2019s own Solicitor later conceded that the downstream tribes could have asserted storage rights\n          in the adjudication but did not. The consequence falls on everyone: the Tribe\u2019s rights remain\n          unquantified to this day, and the District\u2019s adjudicated rights are subordinated to a quantity no\n          court has ever determined.\n        <\/p>\n        <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_I_Ex1-8.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 6 - opens Volume I (Exhibits 1-8), PDF\">Ex. 6 at 5 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 18 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 18 at 6 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 31 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 31 at 7 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/li>\n\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__event\">\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-date\">1990s\u20132000<\/div>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-body\">\n        <h3>Federal litigation funding builds the science that will restrict the Project<\/h3>\n        <p>\n          The Department of Justice and the Bureau of Indian Affairs paid Dr. Thomas Hardy more than\n          <strong>$850,000<\/strong> under expert-witness contracts captioned \u201cKlamath River Basin\n          Adjudication\u201d and \u201cYurok Water Rights Adjudication System\u201d to develop the flow studies\n          that would justify curtailing the Klamath Project. The governing interagency agreement states its purpose\n          as supporting United States claims for water on behalf of the Hoopa Valley, Klamath and Yurok Tribes.\n        <\/p>\n        <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_II_Ex9-13compressed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 9 - opens Volume II (Exhibits 9-13), PDF\">Ex. 9 at 9, 10, 12, 18 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/li>\n\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__event\">\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-date\">September 2000<br>\u2014 April 2001<\/div>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-body\">\n        <h3>A contract captioned \u201cKlamath Project Curtailment of Water,\u201d then the shutoff<\/h3>\n        <p>\n          In September 2000 the Department of Justice opened a further Hardy contract captioned\n          \u201cMatter \u2014 Klamath Project Curtailment of Water.\u201d Six months later, on 6 April 2001, the\n          United States issued a curtailment notice shutting off the Klamath Project completely \u2014 in a water\n          year that began with Upper Klamath Lake six inches above its 1987\u20132009 average.\n        <\/p>\n        <p>\n          The Hardy studies thereafter became the \u201cbest available science\u201d in the biological opinions,\n          and have restricted the Project ever since.\n        <\/p>\n        <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_II_Ex9-13compressed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 9 - opens Volume II (Exhibits 9-13), PDF\">Ex. 9 at 13 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/li>\n\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__event\">\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-date\">2002\u20132008<\/div>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-body\">\n        <h3>The science does not hold up under independent review<\/h3>\n        <p>\n          The National Research Council found no convincing scientific justification for departing from\n          1990\u20132000 operating practice. Its later evaluation identified significant shortcomings in the Hardy\n          Phase II study \u2014 monthly rather than daily data, no tributary analyses, and flaws in experimental\n          design \u2014 concluding that it and the companion Natural Flow Study were not likely to contribute\n          effectively to sound decision making. An independent review commissioned by the Bureau of Reclamation\n          itself concluded that the underlying Phase I report could not be used to identify ESA jeopardy, recovery,\n          or sustained tribal harvest flows.\n        <\/p>\n        <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 36 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 36 at 3\u20134 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/li>\n\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__event\">\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-date\">2013<\/div>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-body\">\n        <h3>Oregon determines the rights \u2014 and the determination is set aside within weeks<\/h3>\n        <p>\n          Oregon completed the first phase of its adjudication in 2013. It confirmed that the water stored in Upper\n          Klamath Lake is stored for irrigation of the Klamath Project, and it denied the only tribal claims to\n          instream flows in the mainstem Klamath River, holding that off-reservation claims fall outside the federal\n          reserved water right doctrine as a matter of law.\n        <\/p>\n        <p>\n          Weeks later, the 2013 biological opinion stated in writing that the adjudication\u2019s effects were\n          uncertain and would likely remain uncertain for several years, and that the proposed action was therefore\n          not modified based on the Findings of Fact and Order of Determination. Interior\u2019s Solicitor\n          subsequently described the practice directly: the United States has taken the position that ESA compliance\n          serves as a proxy for its minimum duty to the tribes. No statute created that regime, and no court with\n          jurisdiction over water rights ever approved it.\n        <\/p>\n        <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_II_Ex9-13compressed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 13 - opens Volume II (Exhibits 9-13), PDF\">Ex. 13 at 5 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_II_Ex9-13compressed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 11 - opens Volume II (Exhibits 9-13), PDF\">Ex. 11 at 21 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 18 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 18 at 1, 6 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/li>\n\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__event kid-lf__event--now\">\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-date\">10 February &<br>14 May 2025<\/div>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-body\">\n        <h3>Interior reverses its own legal position<\/h3>\n        <p>\n          Interior concluded that stored Project water is bound by the adjudication, and that the Project contracts\n          leave Reclamation no ESA discretion. The United States withdrew its litigating position in the Ninth\n          Circuit and moved to dismiss and vacate.\n        <\/p>\n        <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 29 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 29 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 32 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 32 at 21 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/li>\n\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__event kid-lf__event--now\">\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-date\">17 June 2026<\/div>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-body\">\n        <h3>A divided Ninth Circuit panel decides the appeal notwithstanding the withdrawal<\/h3>\n        <p>\n          The panel reaffirmed that ESA requirements override the water rights of the irrigators, while stating in\n          the same opinion that neither it nor the district court had adjudicated any water rights.\n          Judge R. Nelson dissented.\n        <\/p>\n        <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 32 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 32 at 26, 39 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/li>\n\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__event kid-lf__event--now\">\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-date\">3 August 2026<\/div>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-body\">\n        <h3>Rehearing en banc sought \u2014 the decision is not final<\/h3>\n        <p>\n          K.I.D. and the Klamath Water Users Association each petitioned the Ninth Circuit for rehearing en banc.\n          The 17 June decision is therefore not final.\n        <\/p>\n        <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 33 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 33 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 34 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 34 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/li>\n\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__event kid-lf__event--now\">\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-date\">13 April &<br>15 June 2026<\/div>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__event-body\">\n        <h3>A further round of litigation opens on the same three-year cycle<\/h3>\n        <p>\n          Earthjustice, for the Yurok Tribe, served a further sixty-day notice of intent to sue and then filed a\n          Second Supplemental Complaint seeking to vacate the 2026 operations plan and reverse the current\n          Administration\u2019s corrected legal position, while expressly declining to consent to any adjudication\n          or quantification of the Tribe\u2019s rights.\n        <\/p>\n        <p>\n          The same plaintiffs have filed on a roughly three-year cycle since 2016 and rely on that history: in the\n          12 June 2026 joint case management statement they cite their own 2016 action before the same court as the\n          template for how this round should be briefed. The Department of Justice describes the pattern in its own\n          published materials, noting that litigation over Klamath operations is almost an annual event, with the\n          plaintiffs changing in relation to the Reclamation decision at issue.\n        <\/p>\n        <p>\n          The involvement is older than this case. On 14 March 1995 the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund wrote to\n          Reclamation\u2019s Klamath Project Manager asking that its submission on Iron Gate Dam minimum flow\n          requirements be entered into the administrative record for the 1995 Klamath Project water decision. That\n          organisation renamed itself the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund in 1997 and now practises as Earthjustice.\n          It has been shaping the federal administrative record for Klamath Project operations for more than thirty\n          years.\n        <\/p>\n        <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 31 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 31 at 7\u20138 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n          <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 30 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 30 at 7 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/li>\n\n  <\/ul>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<!-- ============================ CLOSED DOORS ============================ -->\n<section class=\"kid-lf__section\">\n  <h2 class=\"kid-lf__h2\">No Forum Remains Open<\/h2>\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__h2-note\">The regulatory-fairness failure<\/p>\n\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__intro\">\n    Reclamation\u2019s 2024\u20132029 operations plan and the underlying biological opinions remain in effect.\n    K.I.D. is the applicant to the ESA Section 7(a)(2) consultation and has since 2021 been denied the ability to\n    submit biological assessments, proposed actions, or reasonable and prudent alternatives. The federal services\n    authored the operating plan and then evaluated their own plan. Every route to review of that result has since\n    closed:\n  <\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"kid-lf__doors\">\n\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__door\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__door-tag\">Door 1 \u00b7 Compensation<\/p>\n      <h3>Takings claims defeated<\/h3>\n      <p>\n        Claims for the 2001 shutoff were defeated by tribal rights the United States had withheld from the\n        adjudication, measured by its own biological opinions.\n      <\/p>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n        <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 15 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 15 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__door\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__door-tag\">Door 2 \u00b7 Enforcement<\/p>\n      <h3>State enforcement enjoined<\/h3>\n      <p>\n        Oregon\u2019s enforcement of its own adjudication was enjoined as preempted by the ESA.\n      <\/p>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n        <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 27 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 27 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__door\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__door-tag\">Door 3 \u00b7 The courthouse<\/p>\n      <h3>Dismissed without a merits ruling<\/h3>\n      <p>\n        K.I.D.\u2019s own suit was dismissed with no ruling on the merits, on the ground that the tribes are\n        required parties whose sovereign immunity bars joinder.\n      <\/p>\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n        <a class=\"kid-lf__cite\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Exhibit 35 - opens Volume III (Exhibits 14-36), PDF\">Ex. 35 at 9, 12 <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__door\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__door-tag\">Door 4 \u00b7 The process itself<\/p>\n      <h3>Excluded as applicant since 2021<\/h3>\n      <p>\n        The regulated party cannot submit an assessment, a proposed action, or an alternative to the consultation\n        that binds it.\n      <\/p>\n      <!-- Links to the ESA Section 7 dashboard, which now opens on the Applicant tab. -->\n      <div class=\"kid-lf__cites\">\n        <a class=\"kid-lf__cite kid-lf__cite--kid\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/home\/home\/endangered-species-act\/esa-dashboard\/\" title=\"Opens the K.I.D. ESA Section 7 dashboard on the Applicant tab\">Applicant record <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"kid-lf__pull\">\n    <p>Adjudicated water rights that cannot be enforced, compensated, or litigated are not water rights in any meaningful sense.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<!-- ============================ HARM ============================ -->\n<section class=\"kid-lf__section\">\n  <h2 class=\"kid-lf__h2\">Cumulative Harm<\/h2>\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__h2-note\">What five decades have cost this basin<\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"kid-lf__stats\">\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__stat\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__stat-fig\">$1B+<\/p>\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__stat-lab\">Conservatively estimated losses to Klamath Basin communities since the 2001 curtailment.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__stat\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__stat-fig\">$150M<\/p>\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__stat-lab\">Cost to K.I.D. farmers in the 2021 zero-delivery year alone \u2014 a year when water was stored in priority for that sole purpose.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__stat\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__stat-fig\">$35M<\/p>\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__stat-lab\">Approximate cost to taxpayers of federal drought relief in that same year.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__stat\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__stat-fig\">21 yrs<\/p>\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__stat-lab\">Between the start of Oregon\u2019s adjudication and the filing of federal claims in it.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <!-- EDIT ME: verify the species sentence with counsel before publishing. It is defensible\n       as written (no listed species has been recovered or delisted), but it is the one line\n       on this page most likely to be contested. -->\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__intro\">\n    Farms have been foreclosed. Producers in this basin face a documented mental health crisis. And through it all,\n    no listed species has been recovered or delisted.\n  <\/p>\n\n  <!-- EDIT ME: optional. Remove this whole block if you would rather not carry a support\n       line on this page. Recommended keeping it. -->\n  <div class=\"kid-lf__support\">\n    <p>\n      <strong>If you or someone you know is struggling:<\/strong> the Oregon AgriStress Helpline is free,\n      confidential and available around the clock by call or text at\n      <a href=\"tel:18338972474\"><strong>833-897-2474<\/strong><\/a>. It is run by OSU Extension Service and answered by\n      crisis specialists trained in the pressures particular to farming and ranching. The 988 Suicide & Crisis\n      Lifeline is also available by call or text at <a href=\"tel:988\"><strong>988<\/strong><\/a>.\n      You are not the only one carrying this.\n    <\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<!-- ============================ THE ASK ============================ -->\n<section class=\"kid-lf__section\">\n  <h2 class=\"kid-lf__h2\">What the District Has Asked For<\/h2>\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__h2-note\">Requested action, SBA Office of the National Ombudsman<\/p>\n\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__intro\">\n    Klamath Irrigation District is a special government district organised under Oregon law, serving roughly 1,200\n    family farms across a service population well under 50,000. Both the District and the producers it serves fall\n    within the Office\u2019s jurisdiction \u2014 as a small government entity and as small businesses. The\n    District respectfully requested that the Office:\n  <\/p>\n\n  <ul class=\"kid-lf__asks\">\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__ask\">\n      <p>\n        Refer this matter to the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Marine\n        Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for high-level fairness review, with specific\n        attention to the exclusion of K.I.D. as the applicant from the ESA Section 7(a)(2) consultation process\n        since 2021.\n      <\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__ask\">\n      <p>\n        Refer the interagency litigation-funding records at <a href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_II_Ex9-13compressed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Exhibit 9<\/a> \u2014 including the September 2000\n        Department of Justice agreement captioned \u201cMatter \u2014 Klamath Project Curtailment of Water\u201d\n        \u2014 to the Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General, as contemplated by SBREFA where\n        circumstances warrant.\n      <\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__ask\">\n      <p>\n        Include the Klamath Basin in the Office\u2019s annual report to Congress and refer the matter to the\n        Region X Small Business Regulatory Fairness Board.\n      <\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__ask\">\n      <p>\n        Support reforms preventing the misuse of federal litigation funding and expert contracting, including\n        transparency requirements for interagency litigation-support agreements of the kind documented here, so that\n        federal expert-witness contracting directed at a regulated community is disclosed to that community.\n      <\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li class=\"kid-lf__ask\">\n      <p>\n        Coordinate with USDA under the existing Memorandum of Understanding so that the agricultural and\n        regulatory-fairness records are developed together.\n      <\/p>\n    <\/li>\n  <\/ul>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<!-- ============================ THE RECORD ============================ -->\n<section class=\"kid-lf__section\" id=\"kid-lf-record\">\n  <h2 class=\"kid-lf__h2\">The Record<\/h2>\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__h2-note\">Approximately 1,075 pages \u00b7 every exhibit page stamped \u201cExhibit N, Page x of y\u201d<\/p>\n\n  <p class=\"kid-lf__intro\">\n    The full documentary record is published here as filed. Nothing is summarised away; the exhibits are the primary\n    documents themselves. If you read one thing, read the Key Documents compilation \u2014 it is\n    twenty-eight documents arranged in sequence, each captioned with its source and marked to the operative passage.\n  <\/p>\n\n  <!-- EDIT ME: the one-line contents blurbs on Volumes I, II and III below were inferred\n       from the exhibit numbers cited in the SBA letter, not from opening the PDFs.\n       Please confirm each volume's description matches what is actually in it. -->\n  <div class=\"kid-lf__docs\">\n\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__doc kid-lf__doc--feature\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-kind\">Start here<\/p>\n      <h3><a href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/KID_SBA_Key_Documents_A.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Key Documents from the Record<\/a><\/h3>\n      <p>\n        Twenty-eight documents drawn from the record, each captioned with its source and marked to the operative\n        passage, arranged to show the sequence of events. Three are supplemental items identified as such; the\n        remainder carry their exhibit and page references.\n      <\/p>\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-meta\">PDF \u00b7 32 pages<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__doc\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-kind\">Memorandum<\/p>\n      <h3><a href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026_08_06_Lawfare_KID_UDSA_forJR.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lawfare Against Klamath Farmers \u2014 Memorandum of 6 August 2026<\/a><\/h3>\n      <p>\n        K.I.D.\u2019s memorandum to the USDA Special Envoy for American Landowners, setting out the record in full\n        with citations to the exhibit compilation. This is the analytical document behind everything on this page.\n      <\/p>\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-meta\">PDF \u00b7 6 August 2026<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__doc\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-kind\">Volume I<\/p>\n      <h3><a href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_I_Ex1-8.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Exhibits 1\u20138<\/a><\/h3>\n      <p>\n        The adjudication record: <em>Adair<\/em>, <em>United States v. Oregon<\/em>, the 1995 and 1997 Solicitor\n        memoranda, and the claims that were and were not filed.\n      <\/p>\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-meta\">PDF \u00b7 Exhibits 1\u20138<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__doc\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-kind\">Volume II<\/p>\n      <h3><a href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_II_Ex9-13compressed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Exhibits 9\u201313<\/a><\/h3>\n      <p>\n        The litigation-funding and expert-contracting records, the 2013 biological opinion, and the Findings of Fact\n        and Order of Determination excerpts.\n      <\/p>\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-meta\">PDF \u00b7 Exhibits 9\u201313<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__doc\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-kind\">Volume III<\/p>\n      <h3><a href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Exhibits_Vol_III_Ex14-36.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Exhibits 14\u201336<\/a><\/h3>\n      <p>\n        The takings decisions, the Solicitor\u2019s ESA-as-proxy opinions, the 2025 Interior reversals, the June 2026\n        Ninth Circuit opinion, the rehearing petitions, and the National Research Council reviews.\n      <\/p>\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-meta\">PDF \u00b7 Exhibits 14\u201336<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"kid-lf__doc\">\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-kind\">Archive<\/p>\n      <h3><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1dNQFSGT7iJgnf7siCc0LPxCBNZEpseyW?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Complete document folder<\/a><\/h3>\n      <p>\n        The full working folder, including any material added after this page was published. Hosted on Google Drive\n        and open to the public.\n      <\/p>\n      <p class=\"kid-lf__doc-meta\">External link \u00b7 Google Drive<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"kid-lf__btnrow\">\n    <a class=\"kid-lf__btn\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/KID_SBA_Key_Documents_A.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Download Key Documents<\/a>\n    <a class=\"kid-lf__btn kid-lf__btn--ghost\" href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1dNQFSGT7iJgnf7siCc0LPxCBNZEpseyW?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Open the full folder<\/a>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<!-- ============================ STATUS ============================ -->\n<div class=\"kid-lf__status\">\n  <h2>Where This Stands<\/h2>\n  <p>\n    The Ninth Circuit petitions for rehearing en banc remain pending, and dispositive briefing in the district court\n    is underway on a schedule intended to produce a decision within the 2026 irrigation season. K.I.D. has asked the\n    Office of the National Ombudsman to hold its submission open rather than close it, and is prepared to testify at\n    a Regulatory Fairness hearing.\n  <\/p>\n  <p>\n    This page will be updated as rulings issue. Questions, corrections and document requests may be directed to the\n    District office.\n  <\/p>\n  <p>\n    <strong>Gene Souza<\/strong>, Executive Director \u00b7 Klamath Irrigation District<br>\n    6640 K.I.D. Lane, Klamath Falls, Oregon 97603<br>\n    <a href=\"mailto:Gene.Souza@KlamathID.org\">Gene.Souza@KlamathID.org<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"tel:15418826661\">(541) 882-6661<\/a>\n  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<!-- ============================ FOOTNOTE ============================ -->\n<div class=\"kid-lf__foot\">\n  <p>\n    <strong>About the citations.<\/strong> References in the form \u201cEx. N at P\u201d refer to the stamped\n    exhibit pages in the compilation published above. Each citation on this page is a link, and opens the volume\n    containing that exhibit. Note that the page number cited is the stamped exhibit page \u2014 \u201cExhibit N,\n    Page x of y\u201d \u2014 not the page number of the combined PDF, so you may need to scroll to the exhibit\n    within the volume. Every factual statement on this page is drawn from that record and is traceable to a primary\n    document.\n  <\/p>\n  <p>\n    <strong>About Oregon\u2019s adjudication.<\/strong> The Corrected Findings of Fact and Order of Determination is\n    the controlling determination of water rights in this basin. Klamath Irrigation District supports that process\n    and its outcome. The District\u2019s objection is to federal conduct that delayed it, withheld claims from it,\n    and has since set its result aside.\n  <\/p>\n  <p>\n    Published 7 August 2026 by Klamath Irrigation District, a special district organised under Oregon law\n    (ORS Chapter 545), established 1905.\n  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<!-- ===================== END LAWFARE PAGE ===================== --><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":4264,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"100-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4287","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lawfare - Klamath Irrigation District<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/home\/district-governance-accountability\/lawfare\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lawfare - Klamath Irrigation District\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/klamathid.org\/home\/district-governance-accountability\/lawfare\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Klamath Irrigation District\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/klamath.irrigation.district.official\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T17:43:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/klamathid.org\\\/home\\\/district-governance-accountability\\\/lawfare\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/klamathid.org\\\/home\\\/district-governance-accountability\\\/lawfare\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lawfare - Klamath Irrigation District\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/klamathid.org\\\/home\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T15:26:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-07T17:43:45+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/klamathid.org\\\/home\\\/district-governance-accountability\\\/lawfare\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/klamathid.org\\\/home\\\/district-governance-accountability\\\/lawfare\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/klamathid.org\\\/home\\\/district-governance-accountability\\\/lawfare\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/klamathid.org\\\/home\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"District Governance &#038; 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