Audit: Oregon’s water watchdog agency is understaffed, overworked, has no plan for future by Andrew Theen The Oregonian/OregonLive December 15, 2016 Oregon’s Water Resources Department doesn’t have enough inspectors to enforce the state’s water laws, has no “clear understanding” of how much water is being used statewide and has no plan for the future, according to an audit released Thursday. …
Draining Oregon: State regulators must stop approving wells when water levels are unknown
Draining Oregon: State regulators must stop approving wells when water levels are unknown By The Oregonian Editorial Board The Oregonian September 10, 2016 State regulators approve permits for wells in Oregon even as they suspect there isn’t enough water in some areas to keep pace. A permit application might state it “cannot be determined” whether enough ground water existed for …
Special Report: Draining Oregon
Special Report: Draining Oregon, Oregonian, August 26, 2016 In-depth analysis of state water management found farmers in a quarter of eastern Oregon, the driest part of the state, are allowed to pump more underground water each year than rains deposit. The water giveaway threatens economic chaos and hurts fish and wildlife.
Salem to sell unused water right for $16.2 million
By Tracy Loew Salem Statesman Journal May 24, 2016 The city of Salem has agreed to sell part of its water rights on the Willamette River to the fast-growing city of Hillsboro. If the deal goes through it will earn Salem $16.2 million, which will be used to improve the city’s water infrastructure. “We don’t have any immediate need for …
Groups seek settlement talks in spotted frog case
Groups seek settlement talks in spotted frog case At issue is water management in the Deschutes River Basin By Taylor W. Anderson Bend Bulletin March 24, 2016 Two groups suing to change water management practices in the Deschutes River Basin to protect a threatened frog are asking the federal judge in the cases to set dates for both sides to …
Miners go to court over suction dredge moratorium
Miners go to court over suction dredge moratorium By Mark Freeman Medford Mail Tribune October 21, 2015 Miners have asked a federal judge to block Oregon’s upcoming moratorium on suction dredge mining in wild salmon rivers such as the Rogue, claiming federal mining laws trump state restrictions on federal lands. A consortium of mining interests filed suit Monday in U.S. …
Editorial: Legal Threat is a Wake Up Call
Editorial: Legal Threat is a Wake Up Call BY THE SOURCE STAFF The Source Weekly September 23, 2015 Photo by Gary Nafis, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife. As a society, Americans have a reputation for being litigious. This tendency to sue over every too-hot coffee or too-tall neighbor’s fence is tedious, time consuming, and expensive. But sometimes, lawsuits are the …
Feds threatened with second suit over Deschutes River management practices
Feds threatened with second suit over Deschutes River management practices By Kelly House The Oregonian/OregonLive August 13, 2015 A second environmental group has announced plans to sue the federal government over dam management practices that, it claims, are harming wildlife in the Deschutes River. WaterWatch of Oregon has issued notice to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and three Bend-area irrigation …
Tribe files dam lawsuit amicus
Tribe files dam lawsuit amicus Yuroks join Hoopa Valley effort against Klamath dams By Adam Spencer The Triplicate October 8, 2015 The Yurok tribe filed a friend of the court brief Friday in support of the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s lawsuit that asks the U.S. Court of Appeals to force a federal agency to end eight years of relicensing delays for …
Oregon Water Resources Commission Upholds Order Against McKenzie River Water Speculators
For Immediate Release June 4, 2014 Oregon Water Resources Commission Upholds Order Against McKenzie River Water Speculators Another Victory for McKenzie River and WaterWatch McKenzie River Photo by Tracey Adams On May 29th, the Oregon Water Resources Commission upheld a final order denying the Willamette Water Company’s controversial application for a permit to withdraw 34 cubic feet per second (22 …
Victory for Oregon’s Rivers in Court of Appeals Ruling on Cottage Grove Water Right
For Immediate Release December 11, 2013 Contact: Jim McCarthy, jmac@waterwatch.org, 541-708-0731 Lisa Brown, lisa@waterwatch.org, 503-295-4039 x4 Victory for Oregon’s Rivers in Court of Appeals Ruling on Cottage Grove Water Right Precedent-setting decision closes harmful loophole, affirms protections for fish Today, the Court of Appeals of the State of Oregon handed down a victory for the state’s irreplaceable rivers and fish …
LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST FOREST SERVICE PERMIT FOR CITY OF BEND WATER PROJECT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, NOVEMBER 14, 2013 LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST FOREST SERVICE PERMIT FOR CITY OF BEND WATER PROJECT BEND — Central Oregon LandWatch and WaterWatch of Oregon filed a lawsuit today in the Oregon Federal District Court seeking an injunction to prevent the U.S. Forest Service from authorizing the City of Bend to begin construction of a new pipeline that will allow …
Conservation Groups File 60-Day Notice of ESA Challenge on Klamath Salmon
For Immediate Release WaterWatch of Oregon * Oregon Wild * Hoopa Valley Tribe Contacts: Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch, 541-941-9450 Steve Pedery, Oregon Wild, 503-283-6343 x212 Regina Chichizola, Hoopa Valley Tribe, 541-951-0126 Conservation Groups File 60-Day Notice of ESA Challenge on Klamath Salmon Coalition says Bureau of Reclamation continues to endanger Klamath River fish, wildlife by implementing water management plans ahead of …
Cheney Role in Water Policy Explored
Cheney Role in Water Policy Explored The Interior Department’s inspector general found no political interference by Vice President Cheney leading up to the Klamath fish-kill in part because investigators were not looking for it, an Interior official told lawmakers yesterday. By AP washingtonpost.com August 01, 2007 The Interior Department‘s inspector general found no political interference by Vice President Cheney on a key …
Investigators not told about Cheney contact, official says
Investigators not told about Cheney contact, official says By Mathew Daly, AP Examiner July 31, 2007 WASHINGTON -The Interior Department’s inspector general did not find political interference by Vice President Dick Cheney on a key environmental policy in part because investigators were not looking for it, an Interior official said Tuesday.A 2004 report by the inspector general found no …
Dems: Investigate Cheney for role in salmon die-off
Dems: Investigate Cheney for role in salmon die-off By Mathew Daly, AP Seattle Times June 28, 2007 WASHINGTON — West Coast Democrats called for a hearing Wednesday into the role Vice President Dick Cheney may have played in the 2002 die-off of about 70,000 salmon near the California-Oregon border. An article in The Washington Post on Wednesday said Cheney …
Since You Asked: The well ain’t dry, but source is all wet
Since You Asked: The well ain’t dry, but source is all wet Mail Tribune May 11, 2007 I just recently heard a snippet on the news regarding a bill which Oregon is trying to sneak through. Oregon legislators are saying the state is out of money and have come up with the idea to place water meters on personal wells …
A showdown looms on the Clackamas River over drinking water
A showdown looms on the Clackamas River over drinking water By Lee van der Voo Lake Oswego Review March 07, 2007 Limited river water may pit fish against utilities A state law prompting higher water levels in the Clackamas River may one day force water users to trade their green lawns for the survival of endangered species. Those water users …
How much water flows? Who knows?
How much water flows? Who knows? By Karen McCowan Eugene Register-Guard March 01, 2007 The state is being urged to get a handle on how much of the precious natural resource is being used Who’s using how much of Oregon’s most essential natural resource? Nobody really knows. Of the thousands of individuals and groups with state water rights, only …
Budget boosts Savage Rapids work
Budget boosts Savage Rapids work By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune February 07, 2007 President Bush’s proposed $2.9 trillion budget for next year includes $15 million toward completing a pumping plant that will lead to the removal of Savage Rapids Dam from the Rogue River by 2010. The money is proposed as part of the federal Bureau of Reclamation budget for …
Bill would give away more Columbia River water
Bill would give away more Columbia River water By Janie Har Oregonian February 05, 2007 Senators introduced a bill on Monday that would allow the private sector to take 500,000 acre-feet of Columbia River water each year for irrigation and other purposes. Supporters say they need Senate Bill 483 — also called the Oregon Oasis Project — to boost the …
CAMPAIGN 2006: Proposition 84: Bond would preserve, restore state’s waterways
CAMPAIGN 2006: Proposition 84: Bond would preserve, restore state’s waterways By Greg Lucas San Francisco Chronicle October 10, 2006 (10-10) 04:00 PDT Sacramento — Proposition 84 would split $5.4 billion in bond money between a laundry list of water-related projects and spending on natural resources preservation and restoration, including $400 million for state parks. Among the spending proposed on water projects, …
Court Says River Plan Cheats Salmon
Court Says River Plan Cheats Salmon By Dean E. Murphy New York Times November 19, 2005 In a setback for the Bush administration, a federal appeals court in San Francisco rejected a federal plan to distribute water to farmers from the troubled Klamath River region in Oregon and California, ruling that more water must remain in the river for …
Editorial: Final court for fish
Editorial: Final court for fish Sacramento Bee October 27, 2005 There is a worrisome trend about water and the West that may soon hit close to home: Judges are throwing out Bush administration plans to “restore” endangered fish populations because the plans flunk the test of sound, defensible science. One case involves the Columbia and Snake rivers, which once …
Water Plan for Klamath Is Rejected
Water Plan for Klamath Is Rejected By Eric Bailey Los Angeles Times October 19, 2005 SACRAMENTO — In a rebuke to the Bush administration on a key environmental battleground, a U.S. appellate court threw out the last vestiges of a federal plan for the Klamath River out of fears it diverted so much water to farms that endangered coho …