Local farmers continue working towards longterm groundwater management plan as state committee discussions fail
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IDAHO FALLS – A state advisory council tasked with coming up with a longterm groundwater management plan is effectively terminated after failing to reach an agreement.
That’s what happened during Tuesday’s meeting with the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Groundwater Management Plan Advisory Council, according to attorney TJ Budge, who represents Idaho Ground Water Appropriators. IGWA is an umbrella organization that encompasses nine groundwater districts affected by a water curtailment order issued by the Idaho Department of Water Resources on May 30.
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Though the curtailment was later averted, it’s been an ongoing dispute ever since. Read more about that here.
On June 26, Gov. Brad Little issued an executive order requiring surface water users and groundwater users to reach a longterm solution to their conflict by Oct. 1. The governor also called on the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Groundwater Management Plan Advisory Council to submit a management plan to the IDWR for review, per Idaho law, by Sept. 1.
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In a conversation with EastIdahoNews.com, Budge says the council has been meeting and discussing this issue since last fall. In July, James Cefalo, IDWR’s eastern regional office manager in Idaho Falls who was overseeing these meetings, sent a document to the parties outlining its progress.
“It identified resolved issues and unresolved issues … to help the parties focus on the remaining items so we could get a groundwater management plan put together that all the stakeholders could agree to,” Budge explains.
About a week ago, Budge says Idaho Power and the Idaho Surface Water Coalition responded and said they never agreed to the issues identified as resolved and weren’t willing to make any changes, concessions or compromises. All progress went out the window at that point.
“James Cefalo thought, as did I, that we were close to having a working management plan in place. But after they submitted their comments, that put us back at square one,” says Budge. “Today (Tuesday), James acknowledged there’s no chance of coming up with a mutually acceptable management plan and terminated the committee because there’s no reason to meet anymore.”
The Idaho Department of Water Resources will ultimately have to come up with a longterm aquifer management plan if the parties do not reach an agreement by Oct. 1.
Throughout this conversation, Gov. Little has repeatedly emphasized he will not mandate a solution because he believes farmers working together to come up with a plan is far better than government getting involved.
“The only solution that is acceptable to me is one that is crafted by farmers,” Little says in a recent news release. “If we don’t do this together, then the EPA or the courts (or worse, Congress!) will determine our water destiny.”
Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke, an Oakley rancher who is helping facilitate a series of stakeholder meetings between surface water and groundwater managers, has made similar statements.
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Following a meeting in Pocatello on Aug. 7, Bedke told the Idaho Capital Sun that “we are all in this together” and “we have the tools at our disposal to fix this.”
“I will not be a part of anything that puts one side of the state against the other. This is all Idaho. We are all in it together and we have to end up having something we can work with.”
“Having said that, not everybody is going to get everything they want (in a new deal), but they will get everything they need,” Bedke added.
Budge points out that discussions among local farmers on this issue are ongoing and their progress has been “quite productive.” He’s optimistic they will be able to come up with a new longterm plan before the deadline.
“I’m optimistic that farmers are going to put together a management and mitigation plan that everybody can live with,” says Budge. “If they can negotiate terms that they’ll all agree to, we’ll submit those to the director and request that he approve that framework as the management plan.”
We’ve reached out to several local farmers for comment without success. Stephanie Mickelsen, the Bonneville-Jefferson Ground Water District president who represents District 32 in the Legislature, says board members are in active negotiations with groundwater and surface water users, which is why they’re unavailable to speak Wednesday.
She’s hoping for a mutually beneficial solution that also ensures groundwater rights are fully protected.
Details will be forthcoming once negotiations are complete.
Meanwhile, Cefalo is working on a summary of the advisory council’s efforts over the last year to submit to IDWR Director Mathew Weaver in Boise.
“Ultimately, the committee will provide a couple draft plans for the director to consider and that will happen by the end of the month,” Cefalo says.
Although they were unsuccessful in reaching a longterm agreement, Cefalo says it was successful “to the extent that we’ve identified some of those difficult issues and topics that will need to be in the plan.”
Jay Barlogi, president of the Twin Falls Canal Company and member of the surface water coalition, says there’s been a lot of positive discussion and valid points presented on both sides. Though there are a myriad of disagreements, he says the parties overall have differing perspectives on recharging the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer — which is at historically low levels after decades of decline — and whether stabilization is possible.
“The state has referenced on multiple occasions that some recovery has got to be a component of this groundwater management plan. We’re inclined to agree with that. As the population increases, the stress on our water system is only going to continue. We really have to take a serious look at that, which was the focus of this (discussion) from the beginning,” Barlogi says.
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Barlogi’s greatest hope is in the state’s ability to come up with a longterm plan that’s mutually beneficial.
If the issue ends up going before the department, Budge doesn’t anticipate a final decision being made anytime soon. He says there will likely be more public hearings and discussion continuing through next spring.