Water Commission bill gets a hearing

Washington Ag Today January 26, 2011 Legislation that would take the Water Resources Program away from the Department of Ecology and put it under a mostly elected Water Commission was the subject of a hearing in Olympia at the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday.

The sponsor of House Bill 1296, Representative Bill Hinkle, Republican of Cle Elum, said the authority of the governor over the Water Resources Program must be decentralized.

Hinkle: “And the reason I say that is that I think there is too much distance between the governor‘s office and between what really happens on the ground. I think you are never going to take politics out of water. Anyone who believes that is kind of crazy. It is always going to be political. We know that, but I think what you want to do is have a system that is more transparent to the public, that is more accountable to the public, and hopefully will have some recourse when there is conflict with the department other than just a political door shut in your face.”

Ken Slattery, who heads up Ecology’s Water Resources Program, expressed the agency’s opposition to a Water Commission.

Slattery: “It really does run counter to the direction that the governor would like to see us move as a state and that is to have fewer agencies, fewer boards and commissions.”

Slattery says the Water Resources Program needs more manpower not less as proponents of the Water Commission suggest.

Those speaking in support of Hinkle’s bill included the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association and the Washington State Farm Bureau. Among those opposed were American Rivers and the Yakama Nation.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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