1982 RESOLUTIONS
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| No. 27 |
RESOLUTION ON IRRIGATION WITHIN THE COLUMBIA RIVER SYSTEM | |
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| Considerable portions of
the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon lie within the
Columbia River Basin system, and a timely question is "Can the
Northwest afford to develop additional irrigation in the Columbia
Basin?" |
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The Federation of Western
Outdoor Clubs and other conservation organizations have long contended
that the Second Bacon Syphon (now known as the East High Plateau
Project) proposing to irrigate some 540,000 additional acres with water
pumped from behind the Grand Coulee Dam, is an expensive boondoggle,
and a threat to the wildlife habitat, fisheries resource, purity of the
waters of the river, and to the integrity of the soil. Recent
studies by the Seattle Audubon Society show that the still uncompleted
East High Plateau project, combined with other proposed irrigation
projects, total almost two million acres in the Columbia Basin System,
which not only threaten to degrade the environment but are wasteful of
hydroelectric energy and through their subsidy structure place a burden
on the already heavily burdened rate payers as well as on tax payers. |
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| The Federation is opposed
to the final construction of the East High Plateau project and to the
development of additional irrigation projects presently under
consideration, because they put additional and uneconomic demands on an
already overused and scarce resource, Columbia Basin water. |
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