Odessa Aquifer Irrigators and CSRIA File Lawsuit Against US Bureau of Reclamation

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Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association

May 01, 2015, 08:23 ET

KENNEWICK, Wash., May 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Odessa Subarea Irrigators and the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association (CSRIA) have filed a lawsuit against the United States Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) in the Eastern District of Washington (US District Court), stressing that BOR has arbitrarily delayed and blocked the approval of a new water service contract for the irrigators' Privately Funded Project to bring Surface Water from the BOR's East Low Canal. System 1 would be the first step in the overall plan/project to bring surface water irrigation to about 70,000 acres (or more) of farmland in the Odessa Subarea, both north and south of I-90. The initial developments (Systems 1-4) would reach as far south of I-90 to Lind Coulee. The Privately Funded/Financed Project has received widespread public support (i.e...has been endorsed by many newspapers and decision-makers) as a viable, cost-effective and realistic option to immediately begin replacing the use of groundwater from the declining Odessa Aquifer in eastern Washington. Additionally, it offers a practical and reasonable solution that can be developed in a short time frame to begin effectively resolving the Odessa Aquifer depletion issue.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150501/213205
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150501/213206

The surprising and arbitrary denial by the BOR follows nearly three years of meetings and communications that CSRIA and Odessa Irrigators in the System 1 area (and other areas) have had with BOR and East Columbia Basin Irrigation District (ECBID). In particular, the BOR capriciously denied approving or executing a Water Service Contract that CSRIA submitted to the BOR and the ECBID for System 1 of the Privately Funded/Financed Project. The Contract would allow for the construction of a privately funded pipeline (System 1) and other improvements to deliver surface water east from the East Low Canal to about 14,000 acres of farmland north of I-90 in the Odessa Subarea by as early as 2016. CSRIA had completed the System 1 Project pre-construction engineering and the participants have secured approved financing with several major banks/accounting firms that have put together a multi-million dollar privately financed package that will build the System 1 infrastructure to get critically needed surface water to the farms east of Moses Lake.

The lawsuit highlights that BOR is requiring that water be delivered from the East Low Canal to System 1 Participants at an excessive and wasteful rate of acre-feet/acre, instead of allowing the water to be used more efficiently over a greater number of acres. These sort of antiquated arbitrary requirements from BOR threaten the interests of the System 1 Participants and CSRIA members, and the overall viability of the new Odessa Subarea projects. Unfortunately, BOR has taken a position that limited irrigation water supplies should be wasted, and that irrigators must use more water than needed per acre adversely impacts the water supply of CSRIA members and Odessa Aquifer irrigators, and violates modern 21st century practices that water be used more efficiently and sustainably.

In summary, the lawsuit contends that BOR wrongfully withheld action and that:

The Court may "compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed";
BOR is under a legal duty to implement its Record of Decision (ROD) to solve the longstanding and critical problems of the Odessa Subarea;
BOR's decision to hold that solution hostage to the renegotiation of an existing Master Water Service Contract (MWSC) with the ECBID expiring in 2020 unreasonably delays implementation of the ROD;
BOR has yet even to commence any realistic analysis of its incremental cost to deliver Replacement Water, or to analyze the contracts proposed by CSRIA back on May 29, 2014.
BOR's lack of action threatens completion of the goal of implementing the ROD by 2024 as required by Ecology;
BOR's lack of action threatens substantial economic loss to irrigators in the Odessa Subarea, as many of the System 1 Participants' pumps are failing.

In conclusion, CSRIA urges that the Eastern District of Washington declare that:

Washington State water law allows and encourages expanding the place of use for Replacement Water rights;
No federal law or policy requires a so-called "normalized approach" with 3 acre-feet/acre deliveries only to the places of use set forth within existing groundwater rights;
No additional NEPA analysis is necessary in connection with the BOR's execution of contracts for the System 1 Project;
No provision of any contract between the BOR and the EDBID forbids the BOR from entering into a contract with the System 1 Participants;
That BOR's determinations with respect to the System 1 Project are arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law, and that BOR needs to reconsider CSRIA's requests;
That BOR engaged in an unreasonable delay toward completion of the ROD Program, and that a more expeditious consideration of the facts and circumstances should occur;

For more information, please contact Darryll Olsen, Ph.D., at 509-783-1623 or Email.

Source: Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association

SOURCE Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association