Contextualizing and Evaluating the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement

This thesis seeks to contextualize the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, and explore the confluence of Western water rights, Indian law, the Endangered Species Act, and the plight of arid farming. It will evaluate the KBRA’s contents and then evaluate the way forward for the agreement to become law. It will also explore whether an agreement like this is the best way of resolving such disputes as opposed to litigation or directly through the legislative process. While the KBRA is not perfect, and its future remains uncertain, it nonetheless provides clarity to a patchwork of conflicting laws, norms and court decisions. Although the KBRA was officially terminated at the beginning of 2016 due to a lack of congressional authorization for the agreement, the Interior Department’s recent decision to allow dam removal has revived the KBRA’s chances of becoming a law. Although it has yet to be enacted and its effects yet to be known, the KBRA represents the best way to provide clarity and stability to the Klamath Basin.