News Release     

November 27, 2012


Green Scissors Report:  save tax dollars, stop funding proposed Yakima Dams, Columbia Basin Irrigation Expansion


Left-Right coalition identifies practical steps Congress could take to slash deficits, save natural resources

Contact:

Ben Schreiber Friends of the Earth  202.222.0752  BSchreiber@foe.org

Eli Lehrer R Street Institute 202.615-0586 or elehrer@rstreet.org

Autumn Hanna Taxpayers for Common Sense 202.546-8500 Autumn@taxpayer.net

Chris Maykut Friends of Bumping Lake  206.818-9778  chris@friendsofbumpinglake.org

John Osborn Sierra Club 509.939-1290  john@waterplanet.ws


Seattle -  Congress could move a long way toward solving the nation’s twin problems of spiraling budget costs and environmental degradation simply by cutting hundreds of billions in environmentally harmful federal subsidies, according to a groundbreaking new report from an unusual left-right coalition. The Green Scissors Report 2012 list of wasteful projects includes new dams proposed in the Yakima Integrated Water Plan ($1.4+ billion) and the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project ($1-$4.6 billion).


“Now that the elections are over, the Green Scissors Report is a must read for decision-makers in the Washington Legislature and Congress,” said Chris Maykut of Friends of Bumping Lake.  “Let’s do the right thing for taxpayers and our environment:  don’t build new irrigation dams in this era of dam removal.  The answers to water scarcity reside with ending water waste by using water conservation and water markets." 


Maykut noted Washington State would pay half of the costs for the Bumping Lake Dam - at a time when when the state is in a budget crisis.


The report noted that despite identifying more than 170,000 acre feet of water conservation opportunities within Washington’s Yakima River Basin, local irrigators have convinced the BuRec and Washington State Department of Ecology to support a plan including two (and perhaps up to four) new dams in the Yakima Basin.


For the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project (CBIP), the largest all-federal irrigation project in the nation, Green Scissors 2012 noted that prior attempts by the Bureau of Reclamation to expand the project were halted by economic scrutiny, including the GAO.  The BuRec and Washington Department of Ecology are again proposing to expand the CBIP. Independent economists have again challenged the BuRec’s assumptions as not revealing the full costs to taxpayers and electricity ratepayers.  Meanwhile a 2004 National Academy of Sciences report “Managing the Columbia River: Instream Flows, Water Withdrawals, and Salmon Survival” underscored the need to maintain flows in the Columbia River to prevent the extinction of salmon.  Conservationists have also raised concerns about impacts on remnant shrub steppe habitat. 


"Green Scissors is intended to serve as a resource for citizens and policymakers seeking to better protect the environment and do right by taxpayers," said Ben Schreiber with Friends of the Earth.  "We need to take the common sense solution of saving money by ending environmentally harmful spending.”


"You can't dam your way out of climate change's water scarcity, and taxpayers should not be asked to pay for it," said John Osborn, a Spokane physician and coordinator for Sierra Club's Columbia River Future Project.


Lead organizations for Green Scissors are Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and R-Street.


Links -

- Green Scissors Report 2012 
http://greenscissors.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/GS2012-v7E.pdf
-
Website - Green Scissors  http://greenscissors.com/
-
Friends of Bumping Lake  http://friendsofbumpinglake.org/
-
Yakima River Future http://www.washington.sierraclub.org/uppercol/ucr/yakima/water_overview.html