HomeMy WebLinkAboutCorrespondence - BOCC (007)April 14, 2021
The Honorable Dan Newhouse
House of Representatives
504 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Congressman Newhouse:
GRANT COUNTY
OFFICE OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
P O Box 37
EPHRATA WA 9BB23
(509) 754-2011
I'm writing you today in full support of the Community Project Funding request submitted by the Columbia Basin
Development League for a federal investment of $18,525,000 in the Odessa Ground Water Replacement Program
(OGWRP), a rescue effort to preserve ground water resources for rural domestic and municipal uses within the
federally owned Columbia Basin Project while maintaining the irrigated agricultural economy of an entire region.
Up to 87,000 acres of highly productive irrigated land --that drives thousands of jobs in the region --would be
transferred from a depleting aquifer to a sustainable source of surface water.
Specifically, funds would be used for East Columbia Basin Irrigation District to complete designs on some pump
and pipeline systems within OGWRP and begin design on additional systems required to implement the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation's preferred alternative for the Program. The request also includes funds to automate East Low Canal
gravity -delivery head gates to adjust for fluctuations resulting from conveyance of new pump plant diversions.
Retaining this land in irrigated agriculture benefits dozens of rural communities by maintaining the local tax base
that supports schools and other community services. It also preserves the sole domestic water supply the rural
communities in the area rely upon. This effort continues phased development of the Congressionally -authorized
Columbia Basin Project, which today, is responsible for over $5 billion in annual, cumulative economic activity.
The CBP is onlyartzally complete and was designed to serve hundreds of thousands of additional acres of irrigated
farmland that feeds the world and is the economic engine that powers central Washington: significantly contributes
to our state and federal economies.
Sincerely,
Danny .Stone
Grant County Commissioner
District 1
Cc: Columbia Basin Development League
Danny E. Stone
District 1
Rob Jones
District 2
Cindy Carter
District 3
"TO MEET CURRENT AND FUTURE NEEDS, SERVING TOGETHER WITH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ENTITIESy WHILE FOSTERING
A RESPECTFUL AND SUCCESSFUL WORK ENVIRONMENT."