McMorris Rodgers wants local plans for future water issues

By MATTHEW WEAVER

Capital Press

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers wants to work toward locally driven water decisions and reforming the way the federal government sets its budget priorities.

Water will continue to be critical for agriculture in the coming years, McMorris Rodgers said. As a member of the House Natural Resources Committee and water subcommittee, she has learned about the water challenges in California, and believes Washington state could be headed down a similar path.

"Water is going to become more of a challenge as demand grows," she said. She called for locally driven decision-making and policies.

As examples of local participation, McMorris Rodgers pointed to water resource planning boards throughout Eastern Washington and cooperative efforts between the Department of Ecology and Walla Walla, Wash. The department gave Walla Walla more flexibility and authority to make water decisions, she said.

McMorris Rodgers said she finds such approaches encouraging.

McMorris Rodgers, a Republican congresswoman serving Washington's Fifth District, spoke Oct. 13 to the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association's annual meeting in Spokane.

McMorris Rodgers faces Democrat Daryl Romeyn, an organic farmer and former television newscaster, in the Nov. 2 general election.

Columbia Basin Development League Executive Secretary Alice Parker asked McMorris Rodgers how to convince decision makers of the importance of the Columbia Basin Project as a future investment, instead of being considered another earmark.

McMorris Rodgers spoke of the perception of earmarks as a symbol of the broken budgeting process.

She is leading an effort to reform the use of earmarks and wants more transparency, she said. She advocates a searchable online database of all earmark requests, Republican and Democrat.

"We need to reform the budget process," she said. "We need to change the way the federal government sets priorities and distributes funds. There needs to be a better system in place."

Such a system would include clear criteria for accessing funding, McMorris Rodgers said.

The federal government is also looking at a new funding system for infrastructure and transportation. McMorris Rodgers believes the stimulus bill two years ago was a missed opportunity, with only 7 percent of it addressing infrastructure needs.

She also recalled serving on a National Environmental Policy Act task force. The act grew from one paragraph into a complicated rule, she said.

"It's laws like NEPA that unfortunately at times have been used inappropriately to oppose projects that otherwise could go forward," she said. "We could do a better job of not only moving projects forward, but also in an environmentally friendly way."

During a trade mission to Canada several years ago, McMorris Rodgers asked about that country's environmental policy act. It is similar but has one big difference, she said. Once the permits are issued, there isn't an option to go to court, she said, adding that such a provision would be worth considering.

McMorris Rodgers also talked about her involvement in forming the Hydropower Caucus several years earlier. The caucus spreads the word across the U.S. about the important role hydropower plays, she said.

"Hydropower is affordable," she said. "It's clean, it's renewable, it's abundant. There's potential to use hydropower for more."

Online

Cathy McMorris Rodgers: http://mcmorris.house.gov

Pacific Northwest Waterways Association: www.pnwa.net