Ecology rule to expedite water storage in Columbia Basin; heifers heading to feedlots
Washington Ag Today December 22, 2010 State Ecology Director Ted Sturdevant has signed the Hillis Rule amendment to expedite the processing of water right applications for water storage projects in the Columbia River basin. The Hillis Rule sets priorities for processing water rights applications. This is the first update of the rule since its adoption in 1998. Ecology’s amendment of the Hillis rule allows priority processing of water right applications for such projects as replacing failing public water systems or developing new water supplies in water-short areas of Washington state. The amendment allows expediting of aquifer and surface storage projects as long as they don’t conflict with state or federal instream flow rules. Ken Slattery, manager of the Water Resources Program at Ecology says “Updating this rule is all the more important due to cuts in funding and staff for water right application processing.” ? After studying USDA’s recent cattle on feed report and the number of animals placed into feedlots in November, department analyst Shayle Shagum says cow-calf producers are seeing offers too good to refuse. Shagum” “What the cow-calf operators are seeing right now are prices that are sufficiently strong that you are going to put your cattle in feedlots now rather than hold them back as heifers for addition to the breeding herd for a return somewhere in the future.” Shagum says that will continue the tightening of cattle supplies and push prices higher. He says fed cattle this year are bringing an average 95 dollars a hundredweight and they could average 100 dollars in 2011. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net. ?
