YBSA Monthly Report February 2012

YBSA Monthly Report

February, 2012

YBSA Comments on Draft PEIS of the Integrated Plan:  YBSA supports elements of the Integrated Plan (“IP”) because it provides a short-term solution to the water supply problems of the Yakima Basin, while providing needed habitat improvements to help restore the Basin’s fisheries.  YBSA is, however, deeply concerned that the IP water storage element does not provide a sufficient long-term solution to the water supply needs of the Basin, especially in light of current State and Federal funding shortages, and the National need to integrate Northwest wind power.

To more effectively meet the stated long-term needs for water storage and stabilization, YBSA urges an acceleration of the Columbia River Pumped Storage option identified in the IP.  In particular, YBSA believes that funding for a study of the Columbia Pumped Storage option should be made a priority of the IP, and that the study should include a pumped storage electricity production element.  The PEIS’s decision to make that option a mere aspiration does not adequately protect the Yakima Basin’s future, especially if the more severe climate change scenario considered in the IP come to pass. 

The Purpose and Need statement in the PEIS demonstrates the urgent need for action to address water supply issues in the Yakima Basin, problems that will only grow worse as the Basin’s population grows and the effects of climate change alter the amount and timing of precipitation in the Basin

In particular, we note:

• Water supply is already a serious issue in theYakimaBasin.  In dry years, proratable water rights holders already face substantial reductions in their water supply, placing the Basin’s agricultural economy at risk.  As the PEIS correctly observes: “Demand for irrigation water significantly exceeds supply in dry and drought years, leading to severe prorationing for proratable, or junior, water rights holders.”

• Water rights in the Basin are fully subscribed, making it difficult for both municipalities and individual businesses and homeowners to obtain new water supplies for municipal uses.  This places the Basin’s non-agricultural economy at risk.  Ground water adjudication puts all Basin interests at risk by jeopardizing State, Federal and private investment in our needed infrastructure. 

• As the PEIS notes, theYakimaBasinhistorically supported anadromous fish runs of somewhere between 300,000 and 950,000 fish annually.  Habitat degradation over the last century has substantially reduced these numbers. (PEIS at 1-5 to 1-6). Low streamflows and high temperatures in certain reaches of theYakima, as well as excessive streamflows during certain times of year in other reaches, have contributed substantially to the decline of the Basin’s fisheries.   By our calculations the IP further reduces flows in the lower 100 miles of theYakima River.

The Integrated Plan helps but does not fully meet the identified need for surface water supply, and fisheries benefits.  Additional measures are needed in order to meet the need identified in the PEIS, the Integrated Plan by itself is likely to prove inadequate, especially in the long term.  Conservation by itself is inadequate.  The PEIS’s conclusion that additional water conservation measures, by themselves, cannot meet theYakimaBasin’s future needs.

The Columbia Basin Pumped Storage should be a priority.  Initial screening should begin immediately.  Electricity production and the use of wind energy to pump water provides a means of improving pumped storage economic viability.

• Identifying Additional Storage Options Immediately.  A careful analysis of the PEIS reveals that water storage will be inadequate under the IP if any of the planned water storage options are, for any reason, derailed.  It also reveals that if the more severe climate change scenarios emerge, the IP will be inadequate even if all storage options are built as planned
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The Phase 1 project identified in the IP is likely to take years to complete.  Accordingly, it is imprudent to wait for a crisis to emerge before thoroughly studying other options.

• Addressing the need for renewable energy integration.  In the past decade, renewable energy (especially wind) has become a major economic force inCentral Washington, but the existing power system is rapidly running out of capacity to reliably integrate wind.  This is a major barrier to continued regional investment in wind and other variable renewable technologies such as solar. 
• Addressing adverse conditions in the lower Yakima.  By shifting lowerYakima irrigation districts toColumbia water so that they do not need to withdraw from theYakima, the pumped storage option would substantially improve flows in the lowerYakima.
• Improved water storage.  As noted above, by moving the lowerYakima irrigation districts away from dependence onYakima water, the pumped storage option can substantially improve the overall water supply picture in the Basin

Economic benefits of improved agricultural productivity are underestimated in the Integrated Plan.

YBSA believes many questions need to be answered prior to the approval of the Integrated Plan such as how would this plan eliminate future droughts that affect both the economy and the environment in theYakimaBasin.

Final PEIS and Integrated Plan for Yakima River Basin Published:  The final programmatic environmental impact statement has been published in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 39, Tuesday, February 28, 2012.  The Bureau of Reclamation will not make a decision on the proposed action until at least 30 days after filing the Final PEIS with the Environmental Protection Agency.

See the complete Integrated Plan information and YBSA’s comments on the Integrated Plan at www.ybsa.org

For additional information see www.ybsa.org