01/26/07 BOR commissioner looks at options

Bob Johnson is the new commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that is responsible for several reservoir and water storage projects in Idaho and through out the West. Knowing that the Idaho population is growing and so is the demand for additional water will Johnson and his agency back efforts to increase water storage? JOHNSON "Absolutely. That's an important tool that needs to be looked at. I think that's absolutely an option that can be looked at." But the talk is free. Planning, developing and maintaining dams and reservoirs comes with huge price tags and Johnson says that's why Idaho should not expect much help from budget strapped Washington DC. JOHNSON "There's projects where we can actually expand storage. We'd be more than happy to take a look at those sorts of opportunities. It's going to be difficult for us to get a lot of new money to help do that and I think we do look as much as we can to local and states to help provide the funding for that." Johnson also met with a lot of the Pacific Northwest regional employees from his agency while he was in Boise and he talked with Governor Butch Otter to get Otter's take on water issues and concerns. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott