OPINION: Risch, Crapo, Simpson — stop federal usurpation of state water rights

Without prior warning to state water managers in California’s Tulare County, federal officials suddenly dumped a torrent of water from two lakes in the state’s Central Valley. The deluge almost caused flooding on its way to the ocean, where it served absolutely no useful purpose. Farmers were incensed that they would not have the precious water for this year’s growing season. The water community was left scratching its head.

A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers sheepishly explained that the water release was required by a Jan. 24 Trump executive order, issued to override California water policies. The spokesperson said the release was made “to ensure California has water available to respond to the wildfires” in Los Angeles. Anyone slightly familiar with how water flows would know that there was no way the water could have reached L.A. That did not stop Trump from claiming victory over the L.A. fires.

The most troubling aspect of this episode is the apparent misconception that the federal government can do whatever it wishes with water stored in a federal reservoir. Quite to the contrary, the great majority of the stored water belongs to irrigation companies and other state water right holders. Regardless of the party in control of semi-arid western states, those states have fiercely safeguarded their precious water resources from federal overreach and waste.

Idaho has fended off attempts by federal officials to control state waters since gaining statehood in 1890. In my lifetime, former Gov. Len Jordan nixed a single high federal dam in Hells Canyon in 1952 in favor of three smaller Idaho Power dams so as to maintain control of Snake River waters. When Jordan became a U.S. senator in 1962, he and Sen. Frank Church inserted clauses in every law reserving federal lands in Idaho, requiring any associated water right to be acquired under Idaho water law.

When I became the state’s Republican attorney general in 1983, I worked closely with former Democratic Gov. John Evans to keep state control over Snake River flows in what became known as the Swan Falls water fight. I wrote a book about the fight — “A Little Dam Problem” — in order to document Idaho’s history of preserving and protecting the state’s control over its water resources. Incidentally, because of its historical relevance, the book was in demand during the contentious water fight between Magic Valley and Eastern Idaho water users last year.

The fact is there is simply not enough of this precious resource available to adequately serve those who presently hold valid water rights. Just as a watermaster in the recent California water dump declared, “Every drop belongs to someone.” Idaho waters are not and should not be available for poaching by federal officials for any use or in any quantity not specifically authorized by a federal statute, certainly not by a stream-of-thought executive order.

To prevent a repeat of the Central Valley debacle in the Gem State, our Congressional delegation should immediately educate the president and his staff of the long-standing tension between federal and state interests in the water rights field. Idaho and the other western states have spent countless hours in planning, litigating and compromising how water within our borders should be allocated and managed to best suit local conditions. We might not always make the best choices, but since we have to live with the system we devise, we are much better positioned to do the job than any unschooled eastern bureaucrat.

I know Sen. Crapo and Rep. Simpson understand that the livelihoods of their constituents are tied to the water rights and management system that Idahoans have put together for themselves. They both came into the Idaho Legislature at a time when the Swan Falls water fight was at fever pitch. I drove over to Blackfoot to help get that young dentist, Simpson, elected for the purpose of helping Idaho water users in the fight. I relied on the legal heft that Crapo brought to the struggle.

When Trump announced to Californians on Sept. 13 last year that he wanted to send them Columbia River waters, I looked for pushback from our delegation. I was unaware of a peep of concern from them. When a similar idea was publicized in the mid-1960s, every political figure in the Gem State said, “Hell no.” Sens. Frank Church and Len Jordan raised the roof and rushed legislation through Congress to prohibit studies by federal agencies for transfers of water resources between river basins.

Idahoans are entitled to hear from their elected representatives in Washington that they will not support proposals to either export Idaho water to other states or allow federal intrusion into water rights and water management issues in Idaho.

Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served eight years as Idaho attorney general (1983-91) and 12 years as a justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-17). His columns are collected at JJCommonTater.com.