Tim - I don't think the link I sent you worked so here's what they are
telling us out here:
Abundant Idaho water tied up tight
By Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter
High in the inland deserts of Idaho, a treasure glitters just beyond the
reach of salmon advocates and regional power managers: vast reserves of
water.
Many of the reservoirs in the Upper Snake Basin are full or nearly so, a
fact not lost on the Bonneville Power Administration and federal, state and
tribal guardians of threatened and endangered fish caught up in the region's
second-worst drought in 70 years.
That water could turn turbines and help salmon. But while the politics of
big-city power needs, tribal treaty rights and the federal Endangered
Species Act would seem a compelling force, they are up against some of the
region's most invincible political players: Idaho irrigators, Idaho water
law and Idaho Power, the state's largest utility.
Since 1994, plans for salmon recovery prepared by regional and federal fish
managers have included asking for more Upper Snake Basin water, up to 1
million acre-feet of it - an increase of more than 200 percent over what's
allowed now.
This year's drought has made the need more urgent. Flows in the Lower Snake
River are so low that migrating juvenile salmon, which are protected under
the Endangered Species Act, are actually going backward and getting lost in
the 40-mile-long reservoir behind the Lower Granite Dam, said Christine
Mallette of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, who heads the team
of salmon managers requesting more water for fish this year.
To help those fish at least make it to Lower Granite, state and tribal fish
managers have asked coordinators of the federal hydropower system to release
980,000 acre-feet of water next month from Idaho Power's Brownlee Dam, about
177 miles upstream from Lower Granite.
In addition to helping juvenile spring chinook salmon in their migration to
the sea, that water could generate at least $280 million in power revenues
for the Pacific Northwest, depending on spot-market prices, making enough
electricity to light Seattle.
"It would help the Bonneville Power Administration out with its cash
reserves and help the region with its power supply," said Bob Heinith,
hydro-program coordinator for the Columbia Intertribal Fish Commission,
which represents the Yakama, Nez Perce, Warm Springs and Umatilla tribes.
But instead, that water will probably be spread on cropland in Southern
Idaho, where it will mainly be used to grow potatoes. Humble spuds, a crop
the world so acutely does not need right now that farmers are dumping
potatoes still heaped in warehouses from last season.
A glut of spuds has depressed potato prices since 1996. Today farmers are
getting only about $1.50 for 100 pounds of potatoes when they need at least
$5 per hundred pounds just to break even.
Farmers are cleaning out machine sheds for emergency spud storage; plowing
spuds into the soil for compost; and even dumping them in a market with no
takers.
But irrigators want all of that nearly million acre-feet of water fish
managers have requested; the irrigators want to grow more crops, mostly
potatoes, and they are quick to point out they have a right to every drop of
it.
"They have very carefully crafted their water law to protect something that
is a lifeblood of their economy," said Greg Delwiche, vice president for
generation supply at BPA. "It's a tough safe to crack."
'It's absurd'
Irrigated agriculture is an approximately $2.5 billion industry in Idaho,
and the biggest economic sector in a state where many license plates still
boast "Famous Potatoes."
The notion of tapping irrigation water for fish brings words of outrage from
Idaho farmers.
"To be blunt, it's absurd," said Norm Semanko of the Idaho Water Users
Association, which represents irrigators of 2.5 million acres. "They are
kidding themselves if they think they can get it. They look at the
reservoirs and they see there is water, but what they are not taking account
of is that the irrigators are going to need it this summer."
Providing that water would dry up at least 800,000 acres of farmland,
Semanko said, "and that's just not going to happen."
Donna Darm, acting Northwest regional director of the National Marine
Fisheries Service, sees a classic conflict: "It is a writ-large example of
the conflict between the public policies of different generations and the
struggle between development and conservation."
Idaho was settled in part because of the presence of federal water projects,
built since 1910 to create farmland out of desert with around 10 inches of
precipitation a year. And while water law in both Washington and Oregon
acknowledges that improving fish habitat is a beneficial use of water, in
Idaho the only beneficial uses enshrined in law are municipal and industrial
use, power generation and irrigation.
In Washington, some farmers with water rights in the Okanogan, Wenatchee and
Methow basins frequently must cut off their irrigation water because flow
levels set by the state require it for fish protection. But not in Idaho,
which recognizes no beneficial use of water for fish or wildlife.
The Idaho Legislature has allowed 427,000 acre-feet of water a year to be
sent downriver to enhance flows for fish since 1993. But that's because the
water was available in excess of irrigators' needs.
The state committed to supplying the water again this year, but only if
irrigators already have all they need. And this season, they won't.
Buyback program
Reservoirs are full and near full now, but every drop is spoken for, to run
air conditioners in Boise and to grow spuds on a record 415,000 acres of
potato fields. Flows are low throughout the Upper Snake Basin because of the
drought, and not all irrigators will get even their full allotment of water.
About 155,000 acres of irrigated land will be under a buyback program
offered by Idaho Power, which is paying growers not to run their irrigation
pumps. That, indirectly, will keep more water in the river.
But most of the growers in the buyback program are planting crops that take
less water, such as wheat, hoping for a crop even though they will turn the
water off June 1. That wouldn't work for spuds, a thirsty crop with its
heaviest water demand in August, when potatoes are growing fat.
Salmon advocates took their case for more water to hydro-system operators
last week but got a clear message they should not be optimistic.
"We just don't have it," said Jim Fodrea, regional hydro coordinator for the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Boise.
Idaho Power also opposes the plan, saying refill of Brownlee Reservoir from
the Upper Snake Basin is not guaranteed. "With no assurance of refill, it
would jeopardize our system's reliability," said Dennis Lopez, spokesman for
Idaho Power. "It's something we want to contribute to, but to what extent we
are participating is under negotiation."
For one thing, the utility wants to be paid for any change in flows through
the Hells Canyon Project that cost it money. While the utility would be able
to run every bit of water obtained for fish through its generators, that
water would be worth even more if the utility could hold onto it to sell
power later this summer.
That is not certain: Because of the drought, the utility will be buying
power this summer, not selling surplus power, Lopez predicted.
The most that fish may get this year from the Upper Snake is 110,000
acre-feet of water, far short of the usual 427,000, because irrigators'
supplies will be so tight, said Brian Brown of the National Marine Fisheries
Service.
Sharing `the pain'
But the debate is far from over. Environmentalists have filed a notice of
intent to sue the Bureau of Reclamation and Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, which they argue are not protecting endangered fish as federal
law requires.
A protracted effort to adjudicate water rights in the Upper Snake may also
someday yield more water for fish. But meanwhile, a perilous migration
season looms for threatened and endangered Snake River salmon and steelhead.
"There is 1 million acre-feet of water behind Brownlee Dam right now," said
Greg Haller, water-resources planner for the Nez Perce tribe. "It's up to
the state of Idaho to assume some of the risk to either power generation or
irrigation during this type of drought. The conservation burden has not been
distributed evenly and especially has not been assumed by Idaho. This is a
year when everyone has to feel the pain."
Lynda V. Mapes can be reached at 206-464-2736 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Cavileer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2001 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: YAK & others
> Just an aside Jere, but so far Idaho Power has not agreed to release water
> to augment flow in the lower Snake. Water is being bought for power
> generation not fish. In the past BPA has paid Idaho Power (they own Hells
> Canyon dam - last in line before the Snake/Clearwater confluence) for loss
> power generation opportunities. But not this year - with little water in
> the system everyone is holding on to as much water as possible for power.
> Water this year, for spills or flow augmentation, is a sham.
>
> Tim
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> > We're going to be short on water, here in Idaho,
> >and they are now releasing and farmers are selling their rights, to
coastal
> >states, I believe.....next war to be fought over water!
>
>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Cavileer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2001 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: YAK & others
> Just an aside Jere, but so far Idaho Power has not agreed to release water
> to augment flow in the lower Snake. Water is being bought for power
> generation not fish. In the past BPA has paid Idaho Power (they own Hells
> Canyon dam - last in line before the Snake/Clearwater confluence) for loss
> power generation opportunities. But not this year - with little water in
> the system everyone is holding on to as much water as possible for power.
> Water this year, for spills or flow augmentation, is a sham.
>
> Tim
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> > We're going to be short on water, here in Idaho,
> >and they are now releasing and farmers are selling their rights, to
coastal
> >states, I believe.....next war to be fought over water!
>
>
