WATER POLICY TASK FORCE: A MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
In a year when the legislature was looking at ways to reduce government spending, they nonetheless chose to invent a new costly government program (3/4 million dollars) called the Water Policy Task Force.
NEBRASKANS FIRST was the only organization appearing and testifying in opposition to the Task Force bill (LB 1023) at the January 24 public hearing before the Natural Resources Committee (NRC). Here are the reasons we opposed LB 1023.
· Remember back in 1995 when Senator Beutler was able to push the conjunctive use water bill (LB 108) through the legislature after a long hard battle of which we were in the forefront? Let us not forget that LB 108 was the final product of another "blue ribbon" task force called the Governor's Water Council. Basically, LB 108 resulted in more regulatory authority over groundwater that was impacting surface water. We fought hard to keep primary control over groundwater at the local NRD level. This we succeeded in doing. Now, the state can only step in under some very special situations and only after going through an arduous procedural exercise.
Even with LB 108, Nebraska's water laws remained the best in the entire country in terms of local control and ease of administration. NRD managers we contacted said that LB 108 is just beginning to be used, and seems to be adequate to address surface-groundwater conflicts. The point is this: Our existing water laws are working. They are based on local control and provide NRD's with every conceivable tool necessary to manage groundwater use fairly and effectively.
Now, just a few short years since the Governor's Water Council and the passage of LB 108, we are right back at square one with this new Water Policy Task Force, before LB 108 has even been given a chance to work.
· The LB 1023 Water Policy Task Force will be made up of at least 49 members. (That's how big the Unicameral is!) Twenty of the members will be a mix of surface and groundwater irrigators from the state's thirteen river basins. Environmentalists will get three seats; the cities, five seats; recreation, two seats; natural resources districts, five seats; agriculture interests, three seats. Power companies, four seats. Add in some state senators, state government officials and several at-large appointments by the governor, and there you have it. Lincoln Senator Chris Beutler was able to get an amendment adopted that will also allow him to be a member. Who knows how many other senators will want to be on it? We know he will though. So, the task force total could be well over fifty.
· All of us who have had some experience with committees, councils, or working groups know full well that such a huge, diverse task force will more likely than not be unmanageable. In an attempt to address this concern, the NRC decided to invent another layer of bureaucracy by creating an executive committee for the task force. This committee will be comprised of fourteen members from the main task force and be responsible for the real work. A serious problem with this executive committee is the fact that irrigation and agriculture representation is under 30%. Consequently, proposals unfriendly to irrigators' rights and freedoms could be easily adopted over our protests.
· Another facet of the task force we don't like is that it will be run by an out of state "facilitator", whatever that is. We have seen how facilitators operate and manage groups by a "consensus building" approach. The end result desired is predetermined and the facilitator's job is to move the herd step by step to this end. It is kind of like a TV game show host approach and is something we all would be better off without.
· Considering all that is going on right now, it just does not make sense to embark on such a process. The Platte River Kooperative (think Klamath) Agreement process grinds on. The Cooperative Hydrology Study (COHYST) and the required environmental impact statement have yet to be completed. Whether or not Nebraska ultimately even agrees to endorse and participate in a proposed program is not known.
The Kansas lawsuit over Republican River flows is in the works. The point is this: Whatever falls out from these major undertakings will determine how or if we need to change our water laws. Whatever the task force comes up with will be trumped by the aforementioned activities.
· A final concern with the task force involves who will in reality ultimately drive the agenda. It will be those people who are essentially professional meeting-goers, like attorneys, lobbyists, and government officials. Farmers and ranchers are not in their comfort zone at government meetings. Their passion and focus is on producing and trying to earn a living. While they are attending meetings, they are not doing what they really should be or want to be doing. Because of these realities, dull and tedious meetings become the arena wherein the professional meeting-goers excel at the expense of folks who would rather do most anything than spend all day in a government meeting room.
Everything considered, we predict that this task force is destined to wander down two dangerous roads:
è One road leads to more state control and less local control of groundwater.
è The other road will likely lead to developing a priority system for surface water and groundwater disputes. Under such a system, groundwater irrigators' rights and freedoms would be weakened.
We will try to get a representative on the task force. Be assured, we will attend every meeting and do all we can to protect our rights and freedoms from more government regulations and restrictions.
CONGRESSMAN OSBORNE STANDS TALL – TAKES ON FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
Last February, in Grand Island, Congressman Osborne chaired a field hearing of the House of Representatives Resources Committee. The purpose of this hearing as it evolved, was to question top officials of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on the accuracy and validity of the science they have developed and relied upon in the designation of critical habitat for the whooping crane and the pending proposed designation of critical habitat for the piping plover. Congressman Osborne was well armed with factual, scientifically valid data that basically proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the Central Platte is not critical habitat for either the whooping crane or the piping plover. His questioning of FWS officials was right on point and devoid of fluff. As expected, however, the responses and answers offered up by the feds were evasive and non-responsive.
NEBRASKANS FIRST alerted all our members and others about this hearing, and in so doing, had a lot to do with the hearing room being packed. We also prepared testimony and had it entered into the official Congressional record. In sum, we stressed that all studies, reports and analyses being used by the FWS to support their critical habitat designations and river flow enhancements be thoroughly reviewed by independent experts to assess their validity.
This point is this: The FWS cannot be trusted. They have been exposed time and time again for their fraudulent activities and their practice of using counterfeit science in their reckless pursuit of designating new critical habitats for endangered or threatened species.
Here are just a few of the hoaxes recently perpetrated by the FWS:
· FWS employees were caught planting tufts of lynx hair from a captive pet lynx onto rubbing posts used to identify the existence of creatures in two national forests in Washington. Had this fraud not been discovered, a critical habitat designation for the Canadian lynx would likely have been designated.
· The National Academy of Sciences determined that there was no scientific basis supporting the decision of the FWS and the National Marine Fisheries Service to shut off irrigation water to Klamath Basin farmers last year for the purported benefit of salmon and suckerfish. This abuse of power by these federal agencies was devastating to 1,400 family farms in the Klamath Basin.
Most recently, a federal district judge in Arizona ruled that the FWS designation of over 700,000 acres of land for the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl was unlawful because the FWS failed to fully evaluate the economic impacts on designated areas in southern Arizona. The FWS based their critical habitat designation on their assessment that there would be no economic impacts. A Phoenix economist concluded that such designation would cost city, industry and private residents billions of dollars.
Congressman Osborne has contacted the Department of Interior and formally requested that an independent scientific review of the whooping crane and piping plover critical habitat designations be accomplished by the National Academy of Sciences. To date, he has not yet received a response.
On April 16, Congressman Osborne spoke at length on the floor of the House of Representatives about the FWS fraudulent activities and the critical habitat controversy, and how agriculture and irrigation rights can be harmed. In his speech, Congressman Osborne nailed all the key issues.
Because his comments were not politically correct, the media did not report on the speech and its importance. This is in stark contrast to how the media react whenever an alleged spotting of a whooping crane is reported. The Middle East crisis and the war on terrorism shrink to insignificance compared to such a sighting. We commend Congressman Osborne for his courage in pursuing this important matter and support him 100%. As we know, critical habitat designations pose a serious threat to landowners' and irrigators' rights. Once designated, the FWS gains tremendous authority and leverage in the oversight of any human activity that they believe might adversely affect the critical habitat in any way. The Platte River Kooperative Agreement Program we have been ensnarled in for the past five plus years is directly linked to the 1978 designation of critical habitat for the whooping crane in the Central Platte.
If you would like a transcript of Congressman Osborne's speech, please let us know and we will send you a copy.
NEBRASKANS FIRST CALLS UPON GOVERNOR TO HALT COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT PROCESS PENDING SCIENTIFIC REVIEW
In light of all the recent revelations of fraud and abuse perpetrated by the FWS, we have formally asked Governor Johanns to seek an immediate cessation of all Cooperative Agreement proceedings until an independent scientific assessment on the validity of the whooping crane and piping plover critical habitat designations is accomplished.
The governor should team up with Congressman Osborne in this pursuit of the truth and defense of our state sovereignty over our water. How in the world can our state continue to "sit at the table" with an untrustworthy federal agency that seeks to gain ultimate control over our water for highly suspect species and habitat needs? Recently, House Resources Committee Chairman James Hansen (R-Utah) said that the "lynx debacle calls into question everything the Fish and Wildlife Service has done." Congressman Hansen warns, "the piping plover critical habitat will affect your (Nebraskans') livelihoods and your access to agricultural water." Good grief! How can we continue to go down this road?
Congressmen Osborne and Hansen are right on the money. They need all the support we can muster. The governor should lock arms with Congressman Osborne and do all he can to get the true facts out before any more is done with the Kooperative Agreement. The high road is there to be taken. The FWS is on the ropes. It has surrendered its credibility and legitimacy by violating the public trust.
More recently, the World Wild Life Fund (WWF), which has a membership of nearly 5 million people, has announced a plan to restore native species on the Northern High Plains, including northwest Nebraska. This is what their spokesman said. "People in Nebraska already realize they live in a pretty spectacular part of the world. What they may not realize is that they live in a spectacular global eco-region that is every bit as significant biologically as the Serengeti." The WWF chose us for their project because of what Nebraska could become again. "Before EuroAmerican settlement, the Northern Plains supported a tremendous diversity of wildlife including bison, elk, antelope, wolves and grizzly bears." The WWF blames "two centuries of altering the land for agriculture and livestock" for the woeful condition we now have created.
Folks, this clap-trap clearly illustrates how the environmentalists view Nebraska. We must stay vigilant, active and involved to ensure their dreams never come true. When these extremely well-funded organizations team up with sympathetic politicians and bureaucrats working in federal agencies, such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the threat becomes magnified and more real. Simply put, their goal is "rural cleansing"...which basically involves getting farmers, ranchers, loggers and miners off the land and transforming productive properties into giant wildlife parks which they think can generate economic activity from wildlife management, tourism, and hunting. This is no joke. This is their view of the future. Stick with us and we will fight this nonsense to the bitter end if we must.
Our elected officials must begin to recognize these obvious truths and threats to our way of life, and take a strong stand in defense of our water rights. There is no reason why any of our elected officials should act in a manner that reflects a subservient status to these federal agencies and officials. Considering the documented fraudulent acts of the FWS and its obvious "end justifies the means" strategy, we should not be allowing FWS to press on in the development of a master plan for the management and regulation of our most valuable resource – water. It is absolutely imperative that our local, state, and national officials address this fact and stand up for landowners and producers against the threats these certain federal regulatory agencies pose. The ever popular "go along-get along" approach is no longer acceptable. There is far too much at stake.
We are sad to report that one of our longtime directors and great friend Paul Struckman of Brule passed away on January 20, 2002. Paul had been a NEBRASKANS FIRST director for nine years. Whenever called upon, he answered, and his counsel and good work were so helpful. His lovely wife, Phyllis, would often accompany him at board meetings, and her presence was always appreciated. They were a great team and we will all miss Paul. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.