Lawsuit again?

It was inevitable. Urban environmentalists from Spokane are going to sue to stop an irrigation project for farmers.

In April $55 million of federal stimulus money was secured to build two water routes. One is to deliver 30,000 acre-feet of water from Lake Roosevelt to Grant County farms using the Weber Siphon Complex. The second is to complete construction of the Potholes Supplemental Feed Route, which is a backup for water delivery to the Potholes Reservoir and farmers in the southern portion of the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project.

“These investments will boost our economy, help farmers, businesses and communities get the water they need to thrive and restore aquatic resources in the West,” said U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

We agree with Mr. Salazar.

The water route for Lake Roosevelt was to be built during the summer and the environmental work for the supplemental feed route was completed with work slated for last summer.

Instead of reaping the benefits of using water for farming that is normally poured out to the sea, it looks like we will lose tax money defending ourselves from a group bent on forcing their opinions on the rest of us.

The Center for Environmental Law & Policy (CELP), a non-profit group, announced they are going to sue the Bureau of Reclamation and Salazar for  allegedly failing to protect endangered Columbia River salmon and steelhead.

“We are taking this action to prevent a major and illegal withdrawal of water from the Columbia River,” stated Rachael Osborn, director of CELP. “The Bureau’s ‘Cadillac Desert’ mindset must end here. The water frontier is over.”

We think arrogant environmentalism without any better purpose than to inflate their ego must end.

CELP calls on the Bureau of Reclamation to consult with “expert science agencies” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department “before it takes action that may harm salmon.”

Actually, they accuse the Bureau of violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for “failure to comply with its duty to consult with the expert science agencies.”

They don’t seem to understand how government works. Before any action is taken by the Bureau, they need to have the other agencies permit them to do the work under the ESA, meaning they already did. Both NOAA and U.S. Fish and Wildlife have been recorded as being very diligent in providing biological opinions and stopping work they view as threatening to endangered species.

But why let facts or common sense stand in the way of a good crusade?

Roughly 96 percent of the fish traveling from Canada to the Pacific Ocean through numerous dams survive. We have had record numbers of returning salmon and steelhead since they were listed under the ESA as endangered.

“Hydroelectric dams and water withdrawals for agriculture have caused devastating declines in Columbia River salmon,” Osborn stated.

Nothing about commercial harvesting or ocean conditions or hundreds of miles of gill nets? Nope. Just farmers and dams.

The progress we have made, in clean renewable hydroelectricity, improved farming techniques and better fish passage at dams, is not enough. They want changes now and they want to dictate them through legal actions.

We are tired of seeing elitist tantrums costing us millions in tax dollars. The government agencies hire attorneys to defend themselves, which we pay for later in higher electric rates, more fees and higher taxes.

Maybe we need to start a lawsuit against CELP to get our tax money back. Maybe it would make them look for better ways to be part of the solution, rather than remain part of the problem.

— Editorial board