Funding found for MLIRD dam

MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District can move forward with plans to replace the Moses Lake North Dam, as state funding was made available for the project.

Governor Jay Inslee announced Wednesday that $2 million will be transferred from the Sullivan Lake Water Supply Project in Pend Oreille County to MLIRD for their dam replacement project. The funding can be used for design, permitting, management and construction costs.

The dam has been closed since last Labor Day weekend, when MLIRD crews discovered a sinkhole near the structure. Shortly after the sinkhole was discovered, crews installed an emergency cut-off wall (cofferdam) to take the hydraulic pressure off the dam.

Sen. Janéa Holmquist Newbry, R-Moses Lake, and Reps. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, and Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg, and capital budget committee leadership in both chambers recently submitted a letter of support to the governor for the funding transfer.

In their letter, the legislators said they would have preferred to resolve the issue with a supplemental capital budget.

The House and Senate individually passed capital proposals that included $2 million for the dam replacement project, but the Legislature did not finalize a capital budget.

Warnick said without a capital budget, they had to look at other options to fund the project.

"This is a critical need to protect private and public properties along Moses Lake and we did not feel like we could wait for a future capital budget to protect the people and lands at the south end of the lake," she said in a statement.

Holmquist Newbry said she was glad the governor helped them find a solution.

"Replacing the North Dam on Moses Lake is critical to protecting lives and property from potential flooding, and lawmakers from both chambers and both parties recognized that fact," she said. "I am pleased that the governor also recognizes the importance of this project and is willing to work with us to find a solution that will allow this important work to proceed without further delays."

No emergency funds were available for the project, but the governor has the ability to divert funding from projects that have been postponed. The Sullivan Lake project was delayed because Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) issued late a license surrender order to Pend Oreille County Public Utility District for the Sullivan Lake project.

The delay by FERC has slowed the Seattle City Light's cold water outlet construction at Sullivan Lake, which has pushed state payments to Pend Oreille County PUD into the next biennium allowing for the diversion of those funds to the Moses Lake project.

During a press conference Wednesday, Inslee said it was important to him and other legislators to come up with a solution.

"We know that the concerns of the community were real and pressing," he said. "We have been able to, through some creative work, free up $2 million even though we didn't get a specific appropriation."

Inslee said lawmakers are confident they will be able to eventually replace the funding.

"This is not going to be a permanent diversion, each community will be fully protected," he said.