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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2018
Treaty: Farmers want to replace declining groundwater with Columbia River water
Continued from Page 1A
Columbia River Treaty dams *
Kagele and other farmers want to replace
the declining groundwater with Columbia River
water under the federal Columbia Basin Proj-
ect. Congress in 1933 authorized more than 1
million acres of farmland in the basin to receive
Columbia River water under the project. Cur-
rently, only about 671,000 acres receive the
river water, while the remainder depend on
wells that are now declining.
“If we ever want to get a little more water out
to the farmers and shut the rest of these wells off
… the treaty has to make room for that,” Kagele
said.
Work on updating the treaty has been under-
way for years. The Bonneville Power Admin-
istration and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
made regional recommendations in 2013 that
were developed through consultations with fed-
eral agencies, states, Native American tribes and
other stakeholders.
A U.S. Department of State representative
for Western Hemisphere affairs, who spoke on
background, said key U.S. objectives include:
• Continued, careful management of flood
risk.
• Ensuring a reliable and economical power
supply.
• Better addressing the ecosystem.
Maintaining navigation, recreation, irriga-
tion and municipal and industrial use of the river
is vital to the economy of the region, she said.
Three dams in British Columbia and one dam
in Montana were built as a result of the treaty,
and 24 others fall under the treaty’s purview.
Other dams along the Columbia and Snake riv-
ers are operated by the Army Corps, the Bureau
of Reclamation and individual utilities and util-
ity districts.
“There are no current discussions regarding
the number of dams as part of the modernization
of the treaty regime,” the spokeswoman said.
The treaty has provided extensive benefits to
both Canada and the U.S., and is an example
of the strong bilateral cooperation between the
two countries, said John Babcock, spokesman
for Global Affairs Canada, which manages Can-
ada’s diplomatic relations and promotes interna-
tional trade.
“Canada is committed to working with the
U.S. to modernize the agreement and to ensur-
ing that it continues to provide shared, equitable
benefits to both countries,” Babcock said. “Can-
ada has been working closely with First Nations
and basin communities to identify opportunities
to further improve environmental conditions in
the Canadian portion of the basin.”
1. Mica
2. Duncan
3. Corra Linn
4. Arrow
5. Box Canyon
6. Libby
7. Hungry Horse
8. Kerr
9. Thompson Falls
10. Noxon Rapids
11. Cabinet Gorge
12. Albeni Falls
13. Post Falls
14. Oxbow
Legend
15. Brownlee
16. Bonneville
17. The Dalles
18. John Day
19. McNary
20. Ice Harbor
21. Priest Rapids
22. Wanapum
23. Rock Island
24. Rocky Reach
25. Chelan
26. Wells
27. Chief Joseph
28. Grand Coulee
Storage
Run of river
N
1
Columbia Basin
Mica
State boundary
Sources: U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers; Pacific Northwest
Waterways Association
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*Columbia River Treaty facilities
shown do not represent all dams
and reservoir structures within
the Columbia River Basin.
S almo
n R iv er
MT. RAINIER
NAT’L PARK
13
Hungry
Horse
Thompson Falls
Coeur d’Alene
C
Post Falls
(Coeur d’Alene)
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Pacific Ocean
Olympia
Noxon Rapids
Pend Oreille
Spokane
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23 Rock Island
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Lake
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28
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26 27
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OLYMPIC
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iver
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VANCOUVER
ISLAND
are calculated annually according to a complex
formula that uses the theoretical value placed
on the additional generation of electricity made
possible by the Canadian dams. Canada’s half is
called the Canadian Entitlement.
The Army Corps and BPA also believe the
Canadian Entitlement has more than repaid
Canada’s cost of building the three dams, they
said in their 2013 review of the treaty.
Ecosystem
Wikimedia Commons
The Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington state is one of the 28 dams
included in the U.S.-Canada treaty.
It’s been a model for cross-border coordination
for so many years.”
Flood control
The treaty was originally negotiated after
a spring flood in 1948 caused major damage
along the river from Trail, British Columbia, to
Vanport.
Vanport, one of the largest cities in Oregon
at the time, was destroyed. The flood displaced
30,000 people from their homes and caused
more than 50 deaths, according to the Army
Corps and Bonneville Power Administration.
The magnitude of the flood added a sense of
urgency to the international discussions of flood
control between the U.S. and Canada.
Under the treaty, the U.S. depends on 8.9
million acre-feet of assured water storage
behind Canadian dams to reduce spring runoff,
said Derek Sandison, director of the Washington
State Department of Agriculture.
That guarantee goes away in 2024.
A new “called upon and effective use” provi-
sion is scheduled to kick in, meaning that before
asking Canadian dam managers to store runoff,
the U.S. would need to make use of all its dams
and reservoirs for flood control. That means
reducing the water level in U.S. reservoirs in
anticipation of storing the spring runoff, Sandi-
son said.
“It’s that whole notion of really draw-
ing down our reservoirs and hoping we get
Income tax: The Tax Foundation argues
income taxes ‘tend to be more harmful to
economic growth than consumption taxes’
Continued from Page 1A
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Arrow
Kootenay
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More than 50 million tons of wheat and other
crops and products valued at more than $24 bil-
lion were barged or transported by container
ship and bulk freighter on the Columbia-Snake
river system in 2016, according to the Pacific
Northwest Waterways Association.
The association’s executive director, Kris-
tin Meira, says she is comfortable with the state
department’s understanding of the river system
and what it means for U.S. freight.
Thirty-four ports dot the Columbia-Snake
river system, from Astoria to Lewiston, Idaho,
Meira said. The Snake River is a tributary and
not directly included in the treaty, she said.
She hopes the treaty can stand on its own,
separate from recent political tension between
President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau.
“We are a region that is known for working
well together,” she said. “I hope this continues
to be the case when it comes to the treaty, too.
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BRITISH
COLUMBIA
3
Str
ait
Irrigation
Tom Tebb, director of the Office of the
Columbia River for the Washington State
Department of Ecology, estimates tens of thou-
sands of farmers and others use the Columbia
River.
More than 1 million acres of farms and
scores of communities take water directly from
the river, Tebb said.
Cities that get drinking water from the
river include Revelstoke, British Columbia;
Wenatchee, the Tri-Cities and Vancouver in
Washington state; and The Dalles and Portland.
Water for the entire Columbia Basin Project,
about 6.4 million acre-feet, is reserved in water
rights, said Mike Schwisow, director of govern-
ment relations for the Columbia Basin Develop-
ment League.
However, the ability to draw water from the
river depends on maintaining flows necessary
for fish populations protected under the Endan-
gered Species Act, such as salmon.
When further development is possible, dams
will need to maintain flows for the river and
still allow irrigation projects to withdraw water,
Schwisow said.
Schwisow doesn’t expect this to be a specific
provision of the treaty, but the league hopes for
enough flexibility to work with Canada and pro-
vide the amount of water necessary for irriga-
tion during the summer, when flows are lowest.
“If you don’t have water now and you hope
some day that you will, it’s a very high prior-
ity,” he said.
Columbia
Duncan
2
Corra Linn
(Kootenay)
Str
ait
of
River
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Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
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30 miles
of revenue because many
people see their income
fluctuate with the business
cycle.
“Income taxes affect labor
participation, saving, and
investment, while consump-
tion taxes, such as sales taxes,
tax what people spend as
opposed to what they earn,”
the Tax Foundation stated in
a release.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
the March (runoff) forecast right,” he said. If
they’re wrong, the river flow could be too low
to meet all water users’ needs.
“Predictability in river operations is very
important,” he said. “The more we can get back
to a predictable arrangement, the better for
water supply.”
If and when the U.S. asks for Canadian dams
to store spring runoff, the U.S. would also have
to pay, Sandison said. At this point in the nego-
tiations it’s not clear how such payments would
be structured.
There must also at least be a pathway to use
additional water supplies in nontreaty reservoirs
that have been built by Canada beyond the cur-
rent terms of the treaty, Sandison said.
Oregon and Washington state officials think
such access is possible, but know it won’t be
free, he said.
“Certainly we hold out hope that could be
possible,” he said.
Electricity
The Columbia is the largest hydropow-
er-producing river in North America.
According to the Army Corps and Bonne-
ville Power Administration, treaty negotiators
in the early 1960s agreed that the U.S. and Can-
ada would equally share downstream power
benefits, the increased power generation in the
U.S. allowed by the additional storage capacity
of the three dams built in Canada. The benefits
Native American tribes and public com-
ments have demanded more attention to the
environment, said Tebb, of Ecology’s Office of
the Columbia River.
“We value aquatic resources and the salmon
as much as we value the farmer and the agricul-
tural economy and value our farmers bring to
market,” Tebb said.
Tebb pointed to a U.S. District Court order in
2016 to study new alternatives to protect endan-
gered fish and address ongoing flow issues in
various tributaries.
“Everyone wants a piece of this river, and
we’re just going to have to manage it wisely and
be thoughtful to all of those interests,” he said.
It’s not yet clear how a focus on the ecosys-
tem would affect irrigation, navigation or recre-
ation, Sandison said.
Environmental advocates want water flows
increased during salmon migration periods.
They’re also worried about water quality during
the summer when the flow is lowest.
Impacts on agriculture depend on how much
water is pushed out and when, Sandison said.
“If you push out water in the spring, it’s not
there in the summer or early fall,” when it’s
needed for irrigation, he said.
The future
Kagele, the Odessa farmer, took his first look
in June at construction work on the first of at
least eight pump stations designed to help farm-
ers draw Columbia River water from the East
Low Canal. The EL 47.5 pump station is slated
to start operations in the spring of 2020 and will
serve five farms.
Kagele has high hopes for the completion of
the Columbia Basin Project and, as the Colum-
bia River Treaty is renegotiated, the continued
availability of the river’s water for hundreds
and hundreds of other irrigators like him across
Washington state, Oregon and Idaho.
But for him, the Columbia River isn’t just
about water. It’s also about his family.
“I expect to be long gone and six feet under
by the time this is all worked out, truthfully,”
said Kagele, who plans to transfer the farm to
his son in the next few years. “As long as we’re
working towards that goal, I’m a happy person.
Doing some good for my grandchildren and
their children — my goal has been met.”
About 41.6 percent
of Oregon’s state and
local taxes came from
the state income tax
in 2015, according to
an analysis from the
Washington,
D.C.-based Tax
Foundation.