04/07/05 Columbia Basin Water Initiative

Washington Ag April 7, 2005 The Columbia Basin Development League has been holding meetings this week to update interested people on its latest actions to move ahead on the process of completing the Columbia Basin Project. The League has launched a special project it calls the Columbia Basin Water Initiative and past president Roger Thieme sums up its goal. Thieme: "What we hope to accomplish over the next few years is to get more water out of the Columbia River into the Basin." Thieme says the Odessa sub aquifer, where wells are being depleted, is a critical area, but it is not the only area that could use more water. He cites for example development in the Tri-Cities area. Thieme: "Without water your economic viability just disappears. And it affects the entire what I kind of consider east-central Washington." A consultant has been hired and an executive director may be on board in the next few months. A major conference is planned for this fall in Moses Lake. The last of three meetings this week is being held by the League tonight in Odessa at the Community Center from seven to eight p.m. House Democrats in Olympia yesterday unveiled their two year spending plan for the state. It's very similar to the Senate passed package and includes a boost in the cigarette tax and reimposition of an estate tax. Earlier in the week, House Democrats put out their capital spending budget, which like the Senate's, did not include any funding for WSU's Biotechnology/Life Sciences building at Pullman. I'm Bob Hoff.