A8
State
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Oregon lawmakers discuss groundwater problems
Groundwater
depletion likely
to spark policy
proposals
By Mateusz Perkowski
Capital Bureau
Groundwater
depletion
problems in Oregon discussed
during a recent legislative
hearing in Salem potentially
foreshadow policy proposals
during the upcoming 2017
legislative session.
While participants in the
“legislative days” informa-
tional session did not address
the recent newspaper series
by name, the Oregonian’s
“Draining Oregon” package
obviously loomed over the
hearing.
Stacks of the series, which
was printed last month, sat
EO Media Group
An irrigation pivot in Eastern Oregon. Legislators
will likely look at groundwater pumping issues in
the next session in January.
on a table near the entrance
during the Sept. 21 hearing.
The newspaper’s allega-
tions that state regulators are
allowing farmers to over-
pump groundwater were also
clearly on the minds of law-
makers on the House Interim
Committee on Rural Commu-
nities, Land Use and Water
— as well as those of Oregon
Water Resources Department
staff called to testify.
Committee chairman Bri-
an Clem, D-Salem, said the
topic will likely be a source of
conversations during the next
series of “legislative days” in
November and during next
year’s legislative session.
To avoid “brutal neigh-
bor-on-neighbor
warfare,”
lawmakers should try to ind
a collaborative approach for
water conservation, he said.
With the caveat that he
didn’t want to attack jour-
nalists who “buy ink by the
barrel,” Clem said he was
concerned about loaded terms
that imply farmers are greedy
and wasteful.
“Farmers don’t become
farmers to become rich,” he
said. “There are much easier
ways of getting rich.”
The basic thesis of “Drain-
ing Oregon” was that OWRD
had insuficient information
about groundwater levels
across much of the state but
nonetheless freely allowed
well drilling, depleting aqui-
fers.
Tom Byler, OWRD’s direc-
tor, conceded that over-pump-
ing in past decades had led to
several critical groundwater
areas across the state, which
led the agency to restrict uses.
“We haven’t done as good
a job as we should on that
item,” he said.
Byler said groundwater
is tough to manage given the
complex geology of under-
ground aquifers and because
farmers have become more re-
liant on this irrigation source
when surface waters dwindle
during the dry months.
Since 1955, when legis-
lators passed a law requir-
ing groundwater regulations,
the number of wells across
the state has increased from
4,660 to 256,800, said Justin
Iverson, groundwater section
manager for OWRD.
Agricultural wells —
which require permitting —
make up roughly 10 percent
of the total number, but they
represent about 90 percent of
total groundwater usage in
Oregon, Iverson said.
While domestic users must
only report the location of
new wells, drillers of agricul-
tural wells must also provide
information about water lev-
els and irrigators must report
their usage, he said.
OWRD also monitors
groundwater with more than
1,200 observation wells, Iver-
son said.
Rep. Ken Helm, ques-
tioned whether water regula-
tors were “driving in the dark”
in regard to well-drilling and
the effects of climate change
on water availability.
“Does that change the par-
adigm under which we should
be operating?” Helm said.
He also asked if the OWRD
is simply short of funding to ro-
bustly study groundwater, or if
policy changes are also needed.
Byler replied that the agen-
cy already has many regulato-
ry tools but is always open to
looking at new ones.
New York irm gets $1 million contract to review ODOT
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
The state has awarded a nearly
$1 million contract to New York-
based McKinsey & Company to
conduct a long-awaited manage-
ment review of the Oregon De-
partment of Transportation before
lawmakers approve a transportation
package in 2017.
State oficials in late July nixed a
previous contract with John L. Craig
after revelations about his close ties
with ODOT and an unearthed email
showing he had sought to replace
the agency’s director.
Lawmakers have said they want
an independent, third party review
to ensure that ODOT is operating
eficiently before they approve a
transportation package in 2017.
That legislation — one of Gov.
Kate Brown’s priorities as governor
— could hike gas taxes and fees on
drivers and funnel hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars in additional fund-
ing to the agency.
In an effort to get a review in-
ished in time for the 2017 session,
the Department of Administrative
Services launched an emergency
process for selecting a new contrac-
tor.
Brown selected McKinsey
based on the recommendations of a
DAS procurement team, said Bry-
an Hockaday, a press secretary in
Brown’s ofice.
“McKinsey had the most re-
sponsive proposal, and they are a
national company recommended
for their expertise,” Hockaday said.
McKinsey has 25 days to deliver
its work plan for the review and un-
til the end of February to submit a
inal product, Hockaday said.
DAS reached out to several irms
with experience in management re-
views and received proposals from
McKinsey and Boston Consulting
Group, Hockaday said.
Craig, who won the original
$350,000 contract to do the review,
oversaw the agency’s $1.3 billion
outsourced bridge repair and re-
placement program for six years.
He stepped down as program man-
ager of Oregon Bridge Develop-
ment Partners just 15 months ago.
After questions arose whether
Craig’s connections with ODOT
employees presented a conlict of
interest, a transportation commis-
sioner dug up an old email from
Craig in which he appeared to be
seeking agency Director Matt Gar-
rett’s job.
Tammy Baney, chairwoman of
the Oregon Transportation Com-
mission, received the job solicita-
tion email from Craig in January.
She said she didn’t read the
entirety of its contents until after
Craig landed the contract for the
ODOT review, when she recalled
he had previously reached out to
her. After reading the email in July,
she recommended that state ofi-
cials revoke his contract.
EO Media Group
A long-awaited review of
the Oregon Department of
Transportation will be conducted
by a New York company that
Thursday received a $1 million
contract.
Church Services In Grant County
Cornerstone
Christian
Fellowship
139 N.E. D AYTON S TREET , J OHN D AY
541-575-2180
Sunday Worship Service
10 am
Pastor Levi Manitsas
cornerstonejohnday@gmail.com
CHURCH OF THE
NAZARENE
Sunday School..............................9:30 am
Sunday Worship Service .............. 10:45 am
Sunday Evening Service................6:00 pm
Children & Teen Activities
SMALL GROUPS CALL FOR MORE INFO
Weekdays: Sonshine Christian School
521 E. Main • John Day • 541-575-1895
wwww.johndaynazarene.com