[6] Wash. Extends Agreement To Study 'Modest' Drawdown At Grand Coulee

The Washington State Department of Ecology announced last week that the state has extended an agreement with the Colville Tribes and the Fish and Wildlife Department to allow a task force wrestling with development of a new water policy for the Columbia River more time to complete its work. Participants are trying to forge an agreement that will allow for new water withdrawals for irrigation and municipal needs, while providing adequate flows for ESA-listed fish.

The extension, now good through September 2006, will also provide additional time to study potential impacts of a modest drawdown of Lake Roosevelt behind Grand Coulee Dam, and to release funding to implement the agreement, if it is provided by the 2006 legislature.

The DOE press release took a jab at ongoing litigation over hydro operations, calling the Nov. 9 signing "critically important in light of actions requested by plaintiffs in the ongoing Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion litigation in Judge Redden's court. The state's partnership with the Colville Tribes to carefully consider and mitigate for the potential effects of a modest drawdown of the lake stands in sharp contrast to the BiOp plaintiffs request for large scale summer drawdowns at Grand Coulee Dam with no consideration of the effects such actions would have on Lake Roosevelt or the people that live near it and depend upon it for their health and livelihood."

A 2004 report by the National Academy of Sciences cautioned about implementing a policy of increasing water withdrawals in low-flow years because of potential adverse impacts to fish, but an economic review of adding more water for regional needs said it would have a large benefit for the economy. By the time ex-Gov. Gary Locke left office, neither stakeholders nor the legislature were ready to support it. Work on the initiative was suspended by incoming Gov. Christine Gregoire, who called for the new legislative/executive task force to look into the policy alternatives.

Gerry O'Keefe from the Department of Ecology, spoke at a legal seminar in Seattle this week, telling participants that that plaintiffs' proposal could interfere with the state's plan to free up water. "Our concern is that the scale of injunctive relief doesn't leave room for the state to work with federal partners in accessing water from Canada," he told NW Fishletter later.-B. R.

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