CBDL asks stake holders to pledge support

Interest in irrigation, future high at meeting

MOSES LAKE — Declining aquifers may leave area farmers who are drawing water from deep wells high and dry if steps aren't taken soon.

About 175 stake holders and interested parties gathered in the Moses Lake High School Commons area Wednesday night for a meeting to discuss that point.

The Columbia Basin Development League sponsored the meeting to discuss gathering funds to put out a Request For Proposal (RFP) to consulting firms to determine the possibility of expanding the Columbia Basin irrigation project.

Congress had originally authorized the project to cover 1,095,000 acres of land, but only 600,000 acres have been developed to date.

The depletion of the Odessa aquifer would have both an environmental impact, with the potential loss of over 200,000 acres of irrigated agriculture and a negative economic impact, explained Roger Bailie, chair of the committee to build a coalition of support for the plan to expand the project.

"The stakes are pretty high in this situation that we find ourselves in, " Bailie told the audience. "We are offering this proposal tonight as a solution for directing this to land owners and operators that are somewhat within the confines of the second half of the project"

As part of the CBDL proposal, the league invited 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.

The CBDL proposed Oct. 15 as the date to achieve a minimum of $300,000 in collections or pledges to release the RFP contract; Dec. 1 as the date to achieve $400,000 to enable the signing of the RFP contract; and Jan. 1 to begin the scoping process with consultants and a public relations plan.

At that point, the goal would be to meet with irrigation districts, the Bureau of Reclamation and others to gather technical information, and meet with stake holders to assess their expectations and distribute information.

"At all the other preliminary meetings we've had, there's been quite a positive response from landowners, and I think the turnout here represents the level of interest," Bailie said.

Bailie said that the period of commitment from the land owners would continue for several weeks and then the CBDL would assess whether or not the position is strong enough to move forward with the project.

Retired Lincoln County commissioner Bill Graebel said he thought the meeting was structured well, and would benefit accordingly.

"We'll get part of them, and then we'll have to go back and get the rest of them," he said. "You've got to start somewhere, you know."

CBDL executive director Alice Parker said she was pleased with the number of people in attendance, including those people who are not land owners or operators, but have an interest in seeing the project progress because they want to see economic development for the area.

"I'm pleased with the pledges that are coming in," Parker said. "I haven't really looked at them, but it looks like it's going to be good. The interest was here."

Adams County commissioners had already unanimously voted $20,000 in support, and at the meeting, Grant County commissioners and a representative from the city of Othello also said that they anticipated making contributions.

Eli Wollman, Jr., said he thought that more people would be in attendance at the meeting.

"But it's got a positive attitude, and we're all looking forward to getting this job done," he said.

"I think we've achieved our goal of a commitment of the local area, and that's important right now," said Warden potato farmer Jake Wollman, Jr.

Connell farmer Kevin Lyle said he thought that the meeting would net quite a few pledges, although he was not certain that the goal would be made right away.

"I'm in support of it," he said. "I'm a deep well irrigator, so I'm dealing with the water table drop, lowering the wells and potentially having them shut down."