Fed water policy flayed

WASHINGTON — While world and U.S. leaders seem focused like a laser on oil, key Western senators howled Tuesday that the Bush administration is not paying enough attention — or cash — to water in the parched Mountain West.

They complained in a hearing that the administration's proposed 2005 budget for federal water agencies is $180 million short of needs for reasonable ongoing operation — even while the area is in drought. Worse, they said it does not seek any new dams or long-term development to keep ahead of growing needs in the West.

While the administration does propose a new program, called Water 2025, to help states begin planning to avoid likely conflicts over water amid expected fast growth during the next two decades, it budgeted a relative pittance for it: $20 million.

"With the water needs in the country, it is almost hilarious to have a proposal for $20 million," complained Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.

"We need a revolving fund of $1 billion with grants and matching funds. Anyone who sees what is going on out there knows that," he said.

However, he said the water development funding proposed by the administration is so sparse, "we can't pay for (dam-building) projects right now that have been going on for a long, long time."

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, added, "The West is in deep water trouble," and noted no new dam projects are even contemplated to expand water supplies despite fast growth. He said "there is capacity in the systems" for more dams but complained the administration is scared off by likely opposition from environmental groups.

John Keys, the Utahn who is commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, offered some data that show how big challenges there may be.

He said the population in Mountain West states has grown by a third since 1990. "That in itself shows you some of the crisis and conflict that we face in the western United States" over limited water, he said.

Worse, he said the drought of recent years "looks almost like a bull's-eye on the western United States," deepening the growing need for water. Again this year, the latest federal drought monitoring shows most of the West — and most of Utah — in severe to extreme or even exceptional drought.

Amid that, Domenici asserted that the administration is "playing budget games" by figuring that $180 million would come to federal water agencies via hydropower marketing schemes that are not currently allowed by law — nor will they likely be allowed. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., called that move "absolute foolishness."