_____

From: [email-masked]
[mailto:[email-masked]]

Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 8:21 AM

To: [email-masked]

Subject: uswaternews: WA attorney general backs
ranchers on water use for

livestock

Washington  <http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcrights/5washatto12.html>

attorney general backs ranchers on water use for livestock

http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcrights/5washatto12.html

Washington attorney general backs ranchers on water use for livestock

December 2005

U.S. Water News Online

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- The state Department of Ecology may not limit the amount

of water that ranchers draw daily for their livestock, according to an

opinion by the state attorney general's office.

Stock water has been a nearly perennial issue in the Legislature between

environmentalists who want limits and ranchers and dairies who do not.

"The greatest benefit of the opinion may be that those producers can take it

to their bank for financing purposes. It should remove the question of water

availability," said state Rep. Janea Holmquist, R-Moses Lake. She sought the

opinion after constituents complained of being rejected for loans because of

Ecology Department-imposed limits.

"This is a victory, not only for dairy and livestock owners, but for those

who want to keep state agency rule-making in check," said state Sen. Bob

Morton, R-Orient, who also asked for the opinion. "It's the job of the

Legislature to set policy, not state agencies."

An environmental lawyer in Spokane agreed that legislative action may be the

best way to fight the attorney general's ruling, since legal action seems

unlikely.

"There was a collective environmental groan when it came out," said Rachael

Paschal Osborn, a public interest water lawyer and adjunct professor at

Gonzaga University, where she teaches water law.

Under laws dating back 60 years, four kinds of groundwater withdrawals are

exempt from a permit requirement -- livestock watering, small industrial

uses, homes or small groups of homes and noncommercial watering of a lawn or

garden a half-acre or less in size.

The state agency interpreted that law by limiting livestock watering to

5,000 gallons per day, but recently, Attorney General Rob McKenna's office

issued an opinion that the agency lacked authority to set a specific limit.

"We respect the attorney general's opinion and will abide by it,"
said Curt

Hart, the agency's water resources spokesman.

Osborn said the law was originally intended to help small family farms meet

their household and livestock needs, but the attorney general's

interpretation opens up the state's water resources to unlimited use by

large dairies and commercial farms.

"The concern is the use of water outside the permit system is very
difficult

to control," Osborn said, adding, "We don't have a very strong
enforcement

arm in the water rights arena in this state."

The ruling also removed per-gallon limits on lawn and garden watering, but

acreage limits remain in effect, as does a 5,000-gallon-a-day limit for home

and small industrial use, Hart said.

Small industrial use could include some agricultural irrigators, although

most farmers have their own water rights or receive water through an

irrigation district.

The opinion validated the Ecology Department's authority to bar future

groundwater withdrawals in basins where water is found to be unavailable,

Hart said.

Osborn said environmentalists are not alone in their concerns because other

water rights holders will now have to compete with large commercial farms.

The ruling also does not prevent a senior water right holder or other third

party from filing a lawsuit if that party believes his or her water right is

being impaired by livestock watering.

Livestock watering has long been an especially contentious issue. Obtaining

a water right can be a lengthy, expensive process, and livestock require a

great deal of water -- 18 gallons for a dairy cow to make 9 gallons of milk

a day, for example.

A 5,000-gallon-a-day limit would support 277 cows, while the average dairy

in the Yakima Valley has 777 cows.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted

material  herein is distributed without profit or
payment to those who have

expressed  a  prior interest in receiving this information for
non-profit

research and  educational purposes only. For more information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

----------------

Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.

Checked by McAfee VirusScan

Installed September 7, 2003 - Updated Dec 7, 2005

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->

Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page

http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/Kv0qlB/TM

--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Please visit our blog at http://wria17.blogspot.com/
for

articles and more information about the WRIA process.

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wria17/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:

[email-masked]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

_______________________________________________

This list is for discussion of property rights issues and related subjects. It
is provided by Citizens Alliance for Property Rights, but message content is
the responsibility of the sender, not CAPR. Do not infer that posters are
officials, members, or even friends of CAPR. This is an unmoderated
list. Anything you send to the list will go immediately to all subscribers,
unless  the filters think it may be spam. Please
observe the common sense rules of civil discussion.

Subscribe to our main list (Capr-announce) to receive
meeting announcements, etc. from CAPR. Those items will not be sent to this
list.

Capr-discussion mailing list

[email-masked]

http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/listinfo/capr-discussion