Environment & Water

Please contact either Dave Williams, davew@awcnet.org, or Tim Gugerty, timg@awcnet.org, with questions or input on any of the following issues.

Climate Change

See the Land Use and Housing section of this week’s Bulletin for an update on land use-related climate change issues. In addition, the Governor has requested major climate change legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create clean energy jobs. For more information about this legislation, please see the Energy & Telecommunications section of this Bulletin.

Columbia River Water Delivery Account (HB 3309/SSB 6874)

AWC has testified in support of both of these important Governor-request water bills which result from historic agreements between the State, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Beneficiaries of this agreement include several cities in need of water rights to serve growing populations.

To boost water supplies in the Columbia River Basin, the state plans to release up to 132,500 acre-feet of water from Lake Roosevelt in drought years. This amount of water will lower lake levels no more than an additional 1.5 feet below current operations. This water will provide water to irrigators of 10,000 acres of land in the Odessa sub-area, some holders of "interruptible" water rights, and some municipal and industrial water right applicants. Additionally, this water will be held instream for endangered salmon and the health of the Columbia River.

These bills create a Columbia River Water Delivery Account from the general fund to support releases of water from Lake Roosevelt. Funds are also provided to the Department of Ecology (Ecology) for distribution to affected counties adjacent to Lake Roosevelt to mitigate impacts caused by the releases of water from Lake Roosevelt.

Some environmental interests oppose the bills and there are concerns among some of the counties adjacent to Lake Roosevelt that lowering the reservoir will have negative impacts not contemplated by proponents.

Both bills require funding and are being considered in both the House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means Committees. Follow the links below for more information about this issue.

News Release – 2/5/08
www.ecy.wa.gov/news/2008news/gov_20080205.html

Focus Sheet
www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0711051.pdf

For More Information
www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/cwp/cr_lkroos.html

Restricting Light Pollution Bill (HB 2534)

This bill would require that all public and private outdoor lighting installed after July 1, 2008 conform to new energy efficiency and glare requirements and that all existing public and private outdoor lighting conform to these new standards by July 1, 2012. It appears that HB 2534 is dead for this session; however, it is anticipated that we will hear more about this issue in the future.

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