Batt Attacks Salmon Plan Tells Council That Poor Science Puts Idaho Water At Risk

Idaho Gov. Phil Batt on Tuesday questioned the credibility of the Northwest Power Planning Council’s support of a far-reaching salmon recovery plan.

The new Republican governor told the council meeting in Boise that its Dec. 14 acceptance of a new plan relied on poor science and was approved before he had a chance to select new members to the regional board. The blueprint relies on more years of grabbing water from Idaho reservoirs, he warned.

“We are disappointed that you chose to ignore my pleas and those of seven of the eight U.S. senators from the Pacific Northwest to give us an opportunity to comment on your document,” he said.

“I echo the concerns of the senators that the credibility of the council was at stake, and now, we believe the credibility of your product is at serious issue.”

Batt said his remarks were a joint statement with Republican Idaho Sens. Larry Craig and Dirk Kempthorne, and Reps. Michael Crapo and Helen Chenoweth. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., did not dissent against the council’s decision.

It voted to adopt a new $177 million drawdown and reservoir flush program to help the endangered salmon negotiate the Snake-Columbia river system. Serving on the regional panel from Idaho at the time were Bob Saxvik and Andy Brunelle, former Gov. Cecil Andrus’ natural resources aide.

Batt has since selected Todd Maddock and Mike Field to succeed them. Protecting Idaho water from federal hands was one of Batt’s chief campaign themes.

“Existing science does not support the council’s reliance on flow measures for the recovery of the Snake River chinook and sockeye salmon,” Batt told the council. “No clear scientific conclusions have been drawn to confirm a relationship between flow augmentation for juvenile salmon and increased numbers of spawning adults.”

Batt said the council strategy calls for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to provide up to 1.4 million acre-feet of upper Snake River Basin water to wash the salmon smolts downstream. It assumes the water would be available on a “willing-seller basis.”

“That volume of water, and anything approaching it, is unattainable,” he said. “With great effort in 1994, the bureau was able to provide only 428,000 acre-feet from above Brownlee” Reservoir on the Snake River in Hells Canyon.

Even if 1.4 million acre-feet were available in a good water year, it could not be delivered in proper time for the fish because of existing demands on the water and the physical capability of the dams to release it.

Andrus for years backed the socalled “Idaho plan” of drawing down the four reservoirs on the lower Snake River in Washington state to create a current directing the smolts through the slackwater pools.

After the council’s decision, Andrus said that even if the panel reversed itself, it would still have to go through years of hearings, public comments and studies before that would occur.

Former state Sen. Joyce Cohen of Oregon resigned from the council on Tuesday.

Council Chairman Angus Duncan of Oregon has warned about the bad consequences if salmon restoration reverts to the courts.

He said the panel continually reexamines its actions and considers everyone’s ideas, including the Idaho governor’s.

“I’ve got 99 percent of the answers,” Batt said.

“I’ve got the other 1 percent,” Duncan replied.