05/08/06 Ecology wants input on Columbia managment

Washington Ag May 8, 2006 The Washington State Department of Ecology is hosting four open houses in May to receive public input on how to implement the Columbia River water management legislation passed this year. The workshops are part of an initial scoping process that will result in an Environmental Impact Statement for the Columbia River Water Management Program. Topics to be addressed at the meetings include developing a way to deliver Columbia Basin Project water to lands in the Odessa Subarea currently served by local ground water and evaluating the feasibility of new off-channel storage facilities to augment supplies of water for instream and out-of-stream use in the Columbia River Basin. The open houses will be held in Wenatchee (May 17th), Colville (May18th), Moses Lake (May 22nd) and Kennewick (May 23rd) from 4 to 7 p.m. The U.S. Senate is expected to resume debate on an immigration bill later this month. Lobbyist Bill Lesher gave this outlook for the legislation to farm broadcasters visiting the capitol last week. Lesher: "The Senate is about ready to pass a bill, I think, that will include some kind of a guest worker program that almost all agriculture is for. I do not think the differences will be worked out before the election. Not gonna happen." I'm Bob Hoff.