Senator to address CBDL's annual meeting

Some stake holders at 'crisis stage' with water

MOSES LAKE — It's the one time of the year that the Columbia Basin Development League really gets to party.

The CBDL will hold its annual meeting Friday night at the Best Western Hallmark Inn, with a no-host social beginning at 6 p.m., and the banquet following at 7 p.m.

"It's kind of the one social event we have each year," explained CBDL Executive Secretary Alice Parker, adding that the meeting will include an election of trustees for the upcoming year and will look at updating CBDL bylaws before the guest speaker of the evening, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

"She has invested quite a bit of time to develop water resources in the region, and this is another of those opportunities to meet with people that know best," said Cantwell press secretary Charla Neuman.

Neuman said that Cantwell would absolutely be discussing the irrigation project.

"She's going to recognize how much of an economic driver water is," Neuman said. "I think (those in the audience) are going to come away with something they probably already know, which is how committed Maria is to improving their access to water."

Cantwell received a fly-over tour of the project and heard the concerns of several community members in Othello in September.

"They haven't been token gestures — she's stayed committed to their concerns," Neuman said.

But Parker said that for several years, ever since Cantwell was elected, members of the league have felt like they haven't known her.

"The members keep asking, 'Why don't you get Sen. Cantwell?'" she said. "She never responded to our request until this year. (I said at the Othello meeting,) the federal government does have a big role in the project, and we need all the Washington state delegation working to support us. So she needs to be there helping us," Parker said.

Neuman expressed surprise that league members have felt an absence, and said that Cantwell has had staff at every meeting but one and has been "one of the ones that goes to every county every year.

"With a project as big as this, there might be people that would have given up on this a long time ago, but you certainly don't see that from Maria," Neuman said.

While there are a lot of issues like the Clean Water Act involved in the existing project, Parker said that interest has continued along with development, so the CBDL is proceeding with the process to seek out funding for feasibility studies and move the plan forward.

Parker said that Congressman Richard "Doc" Hastings, R-4th District, was successful in getting $250,000 for a feasibility study, but the Senate also has to approve it.

"We need somebody in the Senate to carry it forward for us to make sure that it becomes part of the total budget and goes to the president for his signature," she said.

Neuman said Cantwell had already committed to try and get another $250,000 from the Senate side.

"Those two work well together," she said of Cantwell and Hastings.

In September, the CBDL also asked stake holders to pay or pledge $1 per acre to support the scoping process, towards a goal of $500,000 to fund coordination, administration and public relations for the project.

Parker said that the league has received about half of the funding it was hoping to have achieved at this point, but money is still coming in every day.

"People have been in harvest and haven't been able to do other things," she said. "Over time, we'll get it, it's just taking time."

Parker said other entities and businesses have also been stepping up to the table and pledging money, including Adams and Grant counties and Valmont Industries, to help get things done and move the process forward.

"A lot of people are really in crisis stage as far as water is concerned," she pointed out. "Some of them have already shut wells down and some of them are still trying to drill deeper. It's becoming extremely costly, the cost of drilling, but also pumping costs. Consequently, it's making it unfeasible to continue pumping from wells."

Parker said that if the wells shut down and go back to dry land, the entire area is going to feel the economic impact, because the value of the land would decrease and impact county budgets and revenue.

Tickets to the CBDL meeting are $25, and can be obtained by calling 509-346-9442 or by e-mail at mrsp@telebar.com.