Batt: Fight Drawdown In Congress Governor Backs Sen. Craig’s Plan To Seek Legislation On Dworshak

Congress, and not the courts, appears to be the place to fight the federal government over drawing down Dworshak Reservoir, Gov. Phil Batt says.

Batt, in a letter to the Orofino Chamber of Commerce Friday, said he supports Republican Sen. Larry Craig’s decision to introduce legislation to restrict the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Marine Fisheries Service from drafting the reservoir on the Clearwater River to help endangered salmon.

“Congress is the body that funds federal agencies and tells them what they can and cannot do,” Batt said in his letter, which was also signed by Attorney General Alan Lance.

“We are pleased that Senator Larry Craig plans to introduce a bill that would, in the senator’s words, ‘restrict the ability of federal agencies to manipulate reservoirs like Dworshak,”’ the letter reads.

It is addressed to chamber director James Grunke and urges him to also support Craig.

The chamber lost a court battle Aug. 1 when U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge rejected its request to halt the drawdown which started July 17.

The two federal agencies are using the water to help flush juvenile chinook salmon downstream to the ocean.

The governor also calls for compensation for those who have suffered losses as a result of the Dworshak drafting.

“The livelihoods of real, live, people in and around Orofino depend on the water level in Dworshak Reservoir,” the letter says.

“Recreation is how they feed their families. Decisions about how this resource is managed can no longer be relegated to an afterthought by arbitrary federal officials.”

Federal attorneys argued Orofino merchants have no right to any specific level in the reservoir.

Lodge said the chamber claimed “irreparable harm” without an injunction, but could not provide the level of proof needed.

Batt appears to put some distance between himself and the possibility of a lawsuit by the state.

“The people of Clearwater County and the state of Idaho have reached a clear crossroads in trying to protect the water in Dworshak Reservoir,” the letter says.