OLYMPIA, WA – AUGUST 9, 2002
The state Department of Ecology (Ecology) has delivered a copy of a draft water-right permit to Benton County Superior Court Judge Vic L. Vanderschoor that would provide water to the Tri-Cities area for the next 50 years. The permit, however, remains tied up due in part to an injunction issued in a second Benton County courtroom. Lawyers representing the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association are challenging the agency for restricting when water may be withdrawn from the Columbia River, as outlined in several draft water permits released last fall.
The water permit requested by Pasco, Kennewick, Richland and West Richland -the “Quad-Cities” – is seventh in line among applications seeking water from the Columbia River mainstem. New water rights must be processed in order of application, and those ahead in line are caught up in the irrigators’ challenge.
“The cities need more water, and we’ve developed a creative package to provide it to them in a way that also protects the environment,” said Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons. “We very much want to sign this deal, but unless the injunction gets lifted or all the senior water applicants provide waivers, we’re stuck.”
This spring, Judge Dennis Yule, the judge in the irrigators’ lawsuit, ruled the agency could not issue the pending water rights with flow conditions to protect fish without first adopting the conditions through rule-making. The cities opted not to have their pending application included in that ruling.
In March of last year, Judge Vanderschoor ordered Ecology to diligently proceed with work on the water-right application for the cities after they sought to expedite the permit process. The agency was almost ready to issue the right along with eight others at the end of 2001, but the motion brought before Judge Yule in January by the Irrigators Association stymied Ecology’s ability to issue a decision for the cities.
“The cities’ application could leap-frog ahead if the first six applicants waive their place in line, but so far not all of them have agreed to do so,” Fitzsimmons explained.
The waivers would allow the Quad-Cities to receive their water permit, but would not affect the seniority of water permits eventually issued to the earlier applicants.
Fitzsimmons added that if Ecology issued the Quad-Cities water permit without waivers from the senior applicants, the agency risks a lawsuit from one or more of them. In addition, the cities would face the risk of their permit being overturned by a judge if a third party were to appeal on procedural grounds.
Fitzsimmons is championing a new approach to managing the Columbia River, one that provides a framework for allowing for new water withdrawals while still addressing the need to restore endangered fisheries and habitat.
“Without this framework, there will be no end to the legal snarls in the Columbia River basin,” he said.
Contact: Joye Redfield-Wilder
Public Information Manager
(509) 575-2610,
or pager, (509) 574-0490
Ecology’s Web site Washington State Dept of Ecology
The 303(d) List of Impaired and Threatened Waterbodies
Broadcast version
The Department of Ecology has reported to a Benton County judge that it is ready to approve a 50-year water permit for the Tri-Cities area.
Last year, Superior Court Judge Vic Vanderschoor directed the Ecology Department to work on the permit.
The department was nearly ready to issue the water late last year, but was stymied when the Columbia-Snake Irrigators Association sought and gained an injunction against the agency that challenges the permitting process.
The department cannot actually sign the water permit for Richland, Pasco, Kennewick and West Richland unless the senior water applicants give their approval – and not all of them have done that yet.
