195 



Mr. Moss. Mr. Chairman, I thank you, and Senator Kempthorne. 

 My name is DeWitt Moss. I am a farmer, and I reside in Jerome, 

 ID. I do have engineering education as a background. 



I currently serve as a director in the North Side Canal Co., a sur- 

 face water delivery organization serving 165,000 acres, and the 

 holder of 869,000 acre feet of storage in the upper Snake River 

 basin. I want to thank you for inviting me to testify today, and I 

 would like to provide my written comments for the record. 



Senator Gorton. Without objection. 



Mr. Moss. The Columbia River and Snake River salmon have de- 

 clined to less than one-half of 1 percent of the historical abundance, 

 and this is the issue. 



The purpose of this presentation is to summarize my views on 

 the potential impact to Idaho of the current salmon recovery plan, 

 specifically, the recently released biological opinion. 



You have heard about the costs estimated to the BPA. What you 

 have not heard is any costs related to water purchase, dry year 

 lease, or idling of land estimated costs. 



The biological opinion requires the upper Snake River to provide 

 427,000 acre-feet of flow augmentation annually, with, I quote "a 

 high probability" of assurance by 1998. 



And again I quote, "and another quantity additional water" is to 

 be secured from Idaho and Oregon, consistent with applicable State 

 laws and from willing sellers. 



If significant progress on securing the above waters is not accom- 

 plished, formal consultation will be initiated. The additional water 

 sought may be as high as 2 million acre-feet, and, in some cases, 

 it could be 3.5 million acre-feet from the upper Snake River. 



In addition, Dworshak Reservoir, in northern Idaho, is expected 

 to provide between 1 and 2 million acre-feet of water annually. 



The above-described willing seller stipulation came about only 

 after our Idaho U.S. Senators confronted Secretary Babbitt about 

 the opinion of John D. Leshy, Office of the Solicitor, Department 

 of the Interior, instructing the Bureau of Reclamation to consider, 

 releasing water covered by existing spaceholder contracts as one of 

 four options to obtain water in 1993. 



Mr. Fred Disheroon, U.S. Department of Justice, met with the 

 Idaho water users in Pocatello and informed us that if the U.S. 

 Government determined that a need exists for flow augmentation 

 from Idaho, the U.S. Government would take the water and the 

 Idaho water users' sole recourse would be through the courts for 

 compensation and damages. 



Secretary Babbitt's pledge that the water will be sought only on 

 a willing seller basis is presently Idaho's only protection from a 

 take. Our concern is over future court directions and mandated 

 consultations, and we have other Federal claims for flows from this 

 same reservoir system. 



The taking of Idaho water could significantly impact Idaho irri- 

 gated farms and communities. Agriculture is Idaho''s largest com- 

 modity. 



In the upper Snake River we irrigate 2.8 million acres, with an 

 annual rainfall of about 8 inches. This irrigated agriculture is pos- 

 sible, because we have 6.5 million acre-feet of storage reservoirs 

 available. 



