[Vision2020] Sell-Outs: Senator Gary Schroeder and Moscow City Councilman Walter Steed

[Paul Rumelhart]

Craine Kit wrote:
> 1) It doesn't matter how much water is in the over all aquifer or how 
> many straws are in it. What's important is the fact that Moscow has 
> the right to pump a defined and limited amount of water. If the City 
> contracts with Hawkins, we the residents will be legally obligated to 
> reduce our share of a finite resource to outside interests. If we do 
> not have that contract, the outside interests cannot dip into our bucket.

But it does matter how many straws are in the milkshake.  If the City 
contracts with Hawkins, they reduce our share and we make a small 
amount.  If we don't contract with them, then it's possible that they 
will reduce our share anyway and we'll get nothing.

>
> 2) Water rights are based on first come, first served (i.e. "Senior" 
> vs. "Junior" rights). When water becomes scarce, the junior right 
> holders must pull their straw so the seniors can retrieve their share. 
> If  Moscow contracts with Hawkins, they join our senior right rather 
> than being the most junior in Washington's scheme. How do we benefit 
> from that?

This is the first I remember hearing about "Senior" vs. "Junior" 
rights.  If Hawkins is not contracted with us, then don't they 
essentially have "Senior" status, in that they can continue to pump 
water even when the juniors here in Moscow can't.  Again, that's if they 
can tap into the same water source.  Is it guaranteed that they become 
seniors if we contract with them?  Can we not put something in the 
contract to make them act as juniors?

>
> 3) The amendment does not specify "Hawkins". It applies to any 
> development adjacent to our city limits. There's lots of land 
> available for development just across the line, North, South, and 
> West. How much of our allocation are we going to ultimately sell?

I imagine we  will sell a lot at first, until Pullman city council 
members start getting dollar signs in their eyes and decide to run the 
infrastructure out to the border.

So where can I find more information on the aquifer?  How far does it 
extend?  If Hawkins drills where they are, will they take water from the 
same source that we will be selling them?  If Pullman extends it's 
infrastructure, will they be selling water from the same source, too?  
Garrett made a good point in his response to me - if it's possible that 
Hawkins would be getting water from a source other than the aquifer, or 
if the amount that can be pumped that way is limited by the geometry or 
geography of the situation, then my argument falls to pieces.  I'd 
rather like it to fall to pieces, because then we can guard "our" 
aquifer completely and make better choices. 

Paul

>
> This is like selling your seed potatoes.
>
> Kit Craine
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mar 8, 2009, at 1:38 PM, Paul Rumelhart wrote:
>
>> Garrett,
>>
>> I sympathize with your argument, but what about the argument "the
>> aquifer knows nothing about State boundaries"?  If we go ahead and sell
>> to Hawkins, we at least get some control over use through global rate
>> hikes and whatnot.  If we don't, then we'll have no control at all and
>> incidentally no revenue from it.  If there was a concrete wall
>> underground that covers the width of the aquifer along the Idaho border,
>> and all the water was on our side of it, then I'd be on your side on
>> this one.  As it is, I think we have to make the best of an unfavorable
>> situation.
>>
>> Paul
>>
>> Garrett Clevenger wrote:
>>> Donovan writes:
>>>
>>> "I can say the Hawkins would get water rights because Moscow has no 
>>> basis to deny water. What possible LEGAL reason could Moscow say or 
>>> claim not to give water?... Moscow has no defense whatsoever to deny 
>>> a shopping center water."
>>>
>>>
>>> I don't claim to be a lawyer, but I would say that one legal reason 
>>> is because Moscow does not have to sell water to Hawkins. There is 
>>> no law saying Idaho cities must provide water out of state. 
>>> Schroeder and Steed's law may make it easier for cities to sell 
>>> water out of state, but that does not mean they are obligated to. 
>>> That still needs approval from Idaho authorities.
>>>
>>> One job of government is to protect its interests. I'd say our city 
>>> or state would not be doing its job if it just let people do 
>>> whatever they want, whenever they want, with any resource they want.
>>>
>>> Washington did not pay to build Moscow's water infrastructure. They 
>>> don't own it and cannot claim to have the right to the water that 
>>> flows through those pipes. They can request that the city sell them 
>>> water, but Moscow has the right to deny that.
>>>
>>> Moscow is not obligated to provide water to any development that is 
>>> built. There is a process that has to be met before Moscow will sell 
>>> water.
>>>
>>>
>>> Donovan asks:
>>>
>>> "Can I write a petition for Moscow residents to deny you water 
>>> rights, just because I don't want another farm in Moscow, or I THINK 
>>> that your farm might use too much water and drain our limited supply?"
>>>
>>>
>>> The answer is yes, if I'm applying for new water rights and you 
>>> think it'll negatively affect your water, then you can petition and 
>>> may be successful if you have evidence in your favor.
>>>
>>> Part of the process is opening it up to the public, and people can 
>>> petition to block transfer of water. If someone gaining access to 
>>> water is going to negatively affect someone already in the system, 
>>> that person has a right to prevent being affected.
>>>
>>> If Hawkins is going to affect other users, of course those users 
>>> have a right to petition. Evidence is presented, and if it looks 
>>> like the new user will affect the old user, water rights to the new 
>>> user can be denied. That is the legal process.
>>>
>>> Steed and the new council circumvented the legal process. They 
>>> agreed to never petition transfer of water rights to Hawkins. They 
>>> may have thought they had no case to block Hawkins, or they may just 
>>> want to grow at any cost, but that does not mean there was no case. 
>>> We won't ever know if they would have been successful in denying 
>>> Hawkins their water rights because that case was never presented to 
>>> Washington's Pollution Control Board.
>>>
>>> The difference between you wanting Hawkins and thus not wanting 
>>> anything to get in the way, and me not wanting Hawkins, and wanting 
>>> to process to unfold in the way it was going before the new council 
>>> signed a secret agreement with Hawkins, is that you think its 
>>> acceptable to have things done in secret by people with obvious 
>>> conflicts of interest, while I want transparency and people with 
>>> conflicts of interest to recuse themselves from signing secret deals 
>>> and from writing laws that will affect the rest of the state.
>>>
>>> I want to make sure irresponsible developments don't occur, whereas 
>>> you seem to think a free-for-all is acceptable.
>>>
>>> Do you not understand that government has the right to prevent 
>>> things that go against its interests, or do we agree that that right 
>>> exists?
>>>
>>> gclev
>>>
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>>
>>
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