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House committee hears plan to let Mid Columbia Water Commission operate a district to better coordinate river-based irrigation
Summary
Presenters told the House natural resources committee that LC 244 would expand existing statutes so an intergovernmental commission can manage conveyance and move certified mitigation water within a 51-mile stretch of the Columbia without changing overall volumes or mitigation obligations.
The Oregon House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources and Water heard an informational presentation on LC 244 on Jan. 9, a legislative concept that would allow the Mid Columbia Water Commission to function as a modernized district for regional Columbia River-based irrigation.
JR Cook, director of the Northeast Oregon Water Association, told the committee the proposal grew from two decades of basin work and roughly $300 million of local infrastructure investment. "It's a pretty complex basin," Cook said, describing a roughly 350,000-acre irrigated area that supports high-value crops and generates substantial economic activity. He said the concept would memorialize governance and enable coordinated management of a system that already uses telemetered flow meters.
David Fillippi, counsel for…
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