Sen. Byron Dorgan Plans to Use a Newfound Position… [Derived Headline]
By TONY SPILDE
By TONY SPILDE
Sen. Byron Dorgan plans to use a newfound position of power to change the way the government handles drought emergencies on the Missouri River system.
With new orders and some extra money, the changes could have significant impact in towns along the river, where water intakes have gone high and dry in the recent past. Water in the river system is at a historic low, and as North Dakota enters its eighth straight year of drought, Dorgan said on Tuesday that it was time to stop the guessing game of if there’ll be drinking water.
Dorgan, D-N.D., is new chairman of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. He said he can use that position to rewrite how the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation handle emergency water shortages. For years, the corps in particular has been hamstrung by rules that make it difficult for it to step in and help with things such as extending water intakes or digging wells.
At a special meeting in Bismarck on Tuesday, Dorgan said the corps had the ability to act, but not the authority. That, along with some additional funding, is what he plans to change.
“I hope to add authorization language to the appropriations bill this year,”Dorgan said. “I want to give them the authority and some funding so both the corps and the Bureau of Reclamation are willing and able to participate in this fight.”
That’s good news for towns like Parshall, which have been told a nasty drought this summer could threaten their ability to draw drinking water.
Loren Hoffman, the auditor in Parshall, said at the meeting that his community is frightened by corps predictions that it could potentially lose its water source. Extending or moving the intake would be too costly for the residents to bear, Hoffman said.
“Ihear that we’ll squeak by, and Ihope that’s right,”Hoffman said. “The city of Parshall will never be able to fix this problem on its own. We need help, and we’re asking for it today.”
Dorgan called for the meeting with officials from the corps and the bureau, as well as interested stakeholders. About 80 people crammed into a meeting room Tuesday afternoon at Bismarck State College. Although temperatures ran high and the meeting ran long, tempers were kept in check. Appeals to Dorgan and the corps ranged from emotional to scientific, as everyone from town mayors to recreational users of Lake Sakakawea showed up to be heard.
Dorgan said planning now and discussing what changes could be made could save considerable strain down the road.
“We have a system that has some substantial stress, and I want to talk about where this is going to take us,”Dorgan said. “I don’t want to be surprised. I want to know where we’re going. I want to know what the circumstances are, and what we can do now.”
He was present in Fort Yates in 2003 when the river sank below the water intake. The sudden loss of potable water affected thousands of people.
The situation has only become more dire since then, and runoff into the river system this year is expected to again be 25 percent less than normal, according to corps estimates.
The senator requested a study from the corps in December, which shows Wakpala, S.D. – another town on the Standing Rock Reservation – will probably lose its water source on the river in August. If the drought deepens considerably, Parshall could also go high and dry, and the margin between intakes and the water surface for several other towns would be dangerously thin.
The water level in the Missouri River system is at 34 million acre-feet, a record low that is more than 20 million acre-feet below normal.
“We’re at rock-bottom now, and are just hoping to see if anything can be done,” Tolly Holtan, owner of the Indian Hills resort on the big lake, said. “We’re on our sixth boat ramp. We’ve been chasing water for 10 years. There’s a mile between the store and the water now. We have no place else to go after this year.”
Dorgan said one thing the state and tribes could do now is declare a drought emergency. He said that could free up some federal money to help with emergency fixes to water systems.
The senator said local government is going to have to take some financial responsibility for the problems, but said it’s time for the corps and the bureau to shoulder some more of it, too. There, he can help.
“First, I want to adequately fund their emergency capabilities,” Dorgan said. “Iwant to make certain they’re able to do what it takes to get things done. I will make certain monies are available for emergency responses.”
(Reach reporter Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tony.spilde@bismarcktribune.com.) Dorgan holds hearing to discuss Missouri River
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