Open Letter

An open letter ad by the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association is being published next week in several Easter WA newspapers and is a continuation of CSRIA's attempt to get the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District to allow private sector development for new water systems off of the East Low Canal. Darryll Olsen, Board Representative with the Association explains.

OLSEN: What the letter says is that the private sector capital financing and construction should move forward and the private irrigators are willing to fully pay their own costs. They're willing to fully pay all of the joint costs that go into the districts operation, maintenance, the Bureau's costs. They're also willing to pay the costs of further canal modifications. There's still about an outstanding $28-million dollars worth of construction costs, modification costs to make East Low canal suitable all the way north and south so that all of the new distribution systems can have access.

Olsen says a court date has been set up in August but hopes that this letter and information will help resolve the issue.

OLSEN: It's all spinning out of control further because every bad thing that could possibly happen here has happened. We have delayed construction, the district has very little expertise in this area. They have no financing and now they're getting into a major direction that is calling for more subsidies, state or federal subsidies even though they have been told repeatedly at the state and federal level there is no more money for these water projects.

And that's Washington Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.