[3] Idaho Delegation Supports Craig Language In Water Bill
Idaho's congressional delegation--all four of them--have circled their wagons around appropriations-bill language inserted by Idaho Sen. Larry Craig calling on the U.S. Secretary of Interior to implement the 2005 Upper Snake BiOp a federal judge has ruled illegal.
In an Oct. 11 letter to Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) -- chairs of appropriations subcommittees responsible for the Interior Department budget -- the Idaho politicians focused on a major point BiOp critics had not made: implementing the 2005 BiOp would also implement a long-term agreement over Snake River water.
That 30-year Snake River water pact between agencies, water users and the Nez Perce Tribe took policymakers many years to produce. It provides the basis of much of the Upper Snake BiOp, which deals with operations of Bureau of Reclamation irrigation-storage projects.
Idaho's congressional delegation said the bill's language would direct the Secretary of Interior to "move forward" with the 2004 Snake River Water Rights Act, "contrary to the assertions" in a letter from some environmental and fishing groups that have claimed implementing the BiOp would hinder salmon recovery.
Congress passed the Snake River Water Rights Act in 2004 to implement the settlement and authorize federal funding. The Idaho Legislature and Nez Perce Tribe ratified the settlement in March 2005. The Snake River Basin Adjudication Court Consent Decree process was completed in March 2007, and last May, actions certifying all preconditions for final settlement had been completed.
Norm Semanko, executive director of the Idaho Water Users Association, said if U.S. District Court Judge James Redden throws out the next Upper Snake BiOp, the Snake water agreement could unravel fast because of a provision in the agreement allowing parties to pull out if the feds declare a "jeopardy" opinion.
Redden tossed the 2005 BiOp, ruling it illegal because federal authorities used the same "flawed" jeopardy analysis they had used in their mainstem Columbia hydro BiOp. However, the old BiOps were allowed to temporarily stay in place.
The new Upper Snake plan calls for no more water for fish than did the 2005 document, 427 kaf on a willing-seller/willing-buyer basis, with another 60 kaf for fish flows added by the Snake River Water Act. In the latest plan, some water previously used to augment summer flows may be shifted to help fish earlier in the migration season.
Idaho politicians said they are confident the new Upper Snake plan would stand up to scientific scrutiny, but "we are equally confident that plaintiffs will continue to oppose implementation of the Snake River Water Rights SRWRA as a means to force dam removal."
The letter said the Snake agreement was specifically written to exclude the dam removal issue. The delegation also said the Nez Perce Tribe's pro-SRWRA stance, while still advocating dam removal on the lower Snake, demonstrates "lack of any conflict" between the Snake agreement and fish-passage issues on the lower Snake and Columbia mainstem.
Idaho politicians said any long-term solution to the Northwest salmon wars must include making agreements "without being held hostage over the dam breaching issue."
They said language in the Interior bill would provide a safety net "to ensure the integrity of the Snake River Water Rights Act," and they offered to work with the subcommittee to end concerns the language would require the Secretary of Interior "to implement a plan that the court has found illegal."
Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell sent a letter in September to the subcommittee asking the language be stricken. Others say chances are good the language will not survive once the $27-billion appropriations bill reaches the floor of Congress for a vote.
However, Semanko's group praised his state's delegation for "reaching out and working cooperatively with both sides of the aisle in Congress to protect Idaho water."
He had harsh words for the groups seeking to have Craig's language quashed. "The environmentalists have been unrelenting in their efforts to force breaching the four lower Snake River dams," Semanko said.
"Their attempt to hijack legislation implementing the Nez Perce agreement, an accord of almost incalculable importance to the economic well-being of Idaho, so it can be made hostage to their dam breaching goals, is a crystal-clear indicator of exactly where they stand. They could care less about the well-being of Idaho, only about achieving some type of Pyrrhic victory," he said.
The dam-removal issue has long been a top priority for Idaho politicians. Freshman Idaho Rep. Bill Sali introduced a House resolution last July calling for Congress to oppose breaching dams on the lower Snake and Columbia rivers.
With a new draft BiOp for mainstem dams expected by Oct. 31, some groups have already invited Northwest legislators to attend a Nov. 1 briefing in Washington, D.C., to describe their take on the new plan, led by Earthjustice attorney Todd True.
The invitation sarcastically asks politicians to join them at the briefing if they are "curious whether Columbia Basin salmon can beat the odds and survive the nation's largest hydropower system," or if they "have a soft spot for sprawling biological opinions, acronym soup and a welter of obscure information."
Attorney True, who has led litigation against various hydro BiOps for more than 10 years, suggested last September that the God Squad may ultimately be needed to settle the issue. -B. R.
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