[Vision2020] Communication Breakdown and Unreasonable Expectations

Mon Mar 16 12:41:52 PDT 2009

And, I strongly disagree.  If Whitman County wants to develop the corridor
to increase their tax base, more power to them, but they need to pay for the
infrastructure themselves rather than counting on taking water pumped by
Moscow's taxpayer funded infrastructure to "tide them over" until they
eventually make enough money from the development (while eroding our taxes)
to do so.  I think the fact that they didn't want to pay the rate Moscow
offered speaks volumes.

Further, I've long had serious concerns about the junior & senior water
rights Kit discussed in her great post recently.  If the additional draw by
Hawkins causes the aquifer to drop unacceptably, neither the idiotic
agreement Moscow signed nor the moronic pending legislation provide any
mechanism for reducing the Hawkins draw when they piggyback on senior water
rights.  If done contractually (i.e., the secret agreement), all the rest of
us could be required to reduce our water use (mandatory conservation, or
water rationing) while Hawkins continues to get 2% of our water annually.

We would also lack the ability to legislate conservation measures when
selling water across state lines.  Some of our council members have been
very dishonest about what the costs would have been of continuing to refuse
to get into bed with Hawkins, but let me assure you, those inflated costs
will absolutely pale into comparison to the costs should we have reason or
need to shut off the out-of-state faucet.  And, unfortunately, neither our
local elected officials nor the legislator(s) behind SB 1002 had the
intelligence or foresight to address this in the secret agreement with
Hawkins or in the legislation.  Quite frankly, Donovan, with your
background, you would see the gaping flaws in SB 1002, so I can only assume
you've not read it.  Why don't you take some time to do so - it's shockingly
short for such sweeping legislation - before you spout off supporting a
piece of extremely poorly crafted legislation.

For pro-growth advocates, and for those devotees of "all growth is good,"
it's a no brainer to realize that selling water out of state will limit the
amount of growth we can sustain on this side of the state line.  The less
water our municipality keeps available for us and for growth here, the less
growth there can be here.

And, whatever happened to reciprocity?  If Idaho thinks it's a good idea to
open the Pandora's Box of selling water across state lines, it should at
least have the mother wit to insist on reciprocal agreements with the other
states.  Of course, that likely wouldn't ever be possible because most
citizens and legislators aren't stupid enough to buy into whole "water as a
commodity" rather than "water as a precious natural resource" thinking.

Finally, and this may seem like a petty point, but it seems incredibly
unfair to me that our kids no longer have the opportunity to enjoy cooling
off on a hot summer day by running in the sprinkler yet we've got enough
water to spare that we can sell 1-2% of our annual use across state lines.

Regardless of what one thinks about the Hawkins development, what people
need to realize is that this legislation *isn't* just a local issue . . . it
has negative sweeping ramifications for water resource management throughout
the state.  I've long been a supporter of regional water management, but
this legislation cuts completely undermines that water management gold
standard.  And *that's* the real no brainer here.

Saundra Lund

Moscow, ID

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.

~ Edmund Burke

***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2009 through life plus
70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside
the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
author.*****

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Donovan Arnold
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 8:48 AM
To: garrettmc at verizon.net; vision2020 at moscow.com; Tom Hansen
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Communication Breakdown and Unreasonable
Expectations

It doesn't matter if Hawkins gets a contract with Moscow or not, they are
still going to get water from the Palouse Aquifer. 

The only question is if they are going to get the water by a well on the
Latah or Whitman side of the stateline. 

I think Moscow would be wise to control the water being pumped instead of
giving Whitman an excuse to pump from their side. This in turn will lead to
more and more businesses on the Whitman side of the line to pay for the
costs of pumping the water if we choose not to work with them. 

To me it is a no brainer to work with Whitman, not against them. 

Best Regards,

Donovan

--- On Sun, 3/15/09, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

From: Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Communication Breakdown and Unreasonable
Expectations
To: garrettmc at verizon.net, vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Sunday, March 15, 2009, 12:52 PM

Apparently what email communications are claimed between Councilman Steed 
and the IDWR (in early 2008) are contradictory of the emails I have 
obtained between Rep. Tom Trail and the IDWR (during the same timeframe).

These emails, along with loads of videos of city proceedings are available 
at:

http://www.moscowcares.com/washingtonWater_HawkinsMall.htm

Or you may browse each individual city council session (beginning on 
December 17, 2007) at:

http://www.moscowcares.com/City_Council_Sessions.htm

However, for the purpose of reflection . . .

"What I would like to do is to make a motion that staff is directed to 
pursue all options including, but not limited to, conferring with the 
Idaho Department of Water Resources, the Attorney General's office and 
changing state code to meet the requirements of the Hawkins agreement, and 
allow the city to commence water delivery to the state line project."

- Walter Steed (October 6, 2008)

At the 3:14 mark of Part 2 of the series of videos at:

http://moscowcares.com/100608_HawkinsAgreement.htm

In recogniton of the 2009 Moscow City Council and their many alleged 
accomplishments, I am thinking of closing various future video clips with 
(and crank up your speakers for) . . .

"The Moscow City Council
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoGO4Kpoklw

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

Join us at The First Annual Intolerista Wingding, April 17th, featuring 
Roy Zimmerman and Jeanne McHale.  For details go to . . .

http://www.MoscowCares.com/Wingding

Seeya
there.

---------------------------------------------
This message was sent by First Step Internet.
           http://www.fsr.com/

=======================================================
 List services made available by First Step Internet, 
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
               http://www.fsr.net                       
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20090316/64f67a2b/attachment-0001.html 