State leaders to White House: Keep your hands off of Idaho’s groundwater

By Sean Ellis

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation

POCATELLO – Gov. Brad Little and Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke sent a tersely worded letter to the White House Sept. 23 telling the administration to keep its hands off of Idaho’s groundwater.

“We are deeply concerned about your administration’s efforts to increase federal oversight of groundwater in the states,” the letter states.

The letter accuses the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) of poking around for information about groundwater in western states.

PCAST sent out a letter earlier this year seeking information on states’ groundwater, according to the letter.

“We told them we have serious problems with this request for information,” Little told Idaho Farm Bureau Federation. “We wholeheartedly reject the premise that the federal government should be involved in regulating groundwater and responded with serious questions and concerns about their intentions.”

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, and Rep. Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, also signed a letter along with four of their House colleagues basically saying the same thing.

That letter, dated Oct. 1, states that it was written “in response to (PCAST’s) request for ‘Public Input on America’s Groundwater Challenges’ and apparent ongoing efforts … to produce a report relating to federal recommendations on groundwater.”

“It is not the role of the federal government to manage or regulate groundwater,” the letter signed by Fulcher and Simpson says. “States, tribes, and local governments have been effectively managing groundwater and water supply for decades without federal intervention … As members of Congress who represent rural and western districts, we staunchly oppose this effort to impede state, local and tribal regulatory authority.”

The letter from Little and Bedke states that the request for information from PCAST “is alarming to Idahoans, particularly in the agricultural community.”

The letter says the overly broad request for information sought by PCAST “suggests the council has already predetermined the actions needed by the federal government with respect to our groundwater.”

“Namely, it appears the council has already concluded that the agriculture industry needs to be the focal point of your groundwater grab, prior to even receiving any feedback,” the letter states.

Bedke and Little are both ranchers and farmers.

Their letter says the current administration has constantly proposed over-reaching rules that would negatively impact farmers and ranchers, including rules on public lands, wildfire management, grazing and water.

“Based on your regulatory track record, the PCAST public input process is cause for concern in the West,” the letter states.

The letter from Little and Bedke says the federal government has no place in groundwater management.

“Congress has long left those actions up to the states and has limited its involvement to funding of projects and technology advancement,” the letter states. “Your administration should follow suit.”

Little and Bedke wrote that the most alarming thing to them is a direct statement from PCAST that the effort is “to support the development of a report to advance government-wide action on groundwater.”

“It shouldn’t surprise … you that Idahoans generally reject the term ‘government-wide action,’ especially as it relates to our precious water,” the letter states.

The letter from Little and Bedke concludes by reiterating that water management is a state issue.

“We do not invite or welcome the involvement of the federal government in making decisions about this precious resource,” it states.

“Plain and simple, Idahoans must determine our water destiny, not the feds or other states,”  Little told IFBF.

The letter that Simpson and Fulcher signed points out that an April 25 announcement on the PCAST website invited written submissions from the public.

This raises the question, the letter signed by the Idaho congressmen states, of “why this was not published in the Federal Register as a formal Request for Information.”