Setting the stage for a fight between Idaho Power and other water users, a Senate committee approved Monday a bill that would make aquifer recharge a primary use of water in Idaho.
The debate surrounding one of Idaho's most precious resources drew more than 100 people to a public hearing March 27 at the state Capitol.
House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, R-Burley, who introduced the bill, told the Senate Resources and Environment Committee that the bill would correct a legislative wrong from 1994 that gave hydropower production priority over recharge of the Snake River Plain Aquifer for excess water flows.
A 1984 agreement between water users and the power company, dubbed the Swan Falls Agreement, established that Idaho Power Co. would subordinate its hydropower water rights "to subsequent beneficial upstream uses upon approval of such uses by the state in accordance with state law."
But Idaho Power representatives said that they've already found a solution through compromise.
"We accommodated (ground water) users at considerable expense to our customers," said Greg Panter, vice president of public affairs for Idaho Power. "We believe the company made a significant contribution to the economic viability of agriculture in the state of Idaho."
If excess flows were taken from hydropower and put to recharge, he said ratepayers would essentially be paying for an issue they had nothing to do with.
"Frankly, we don't think that's fair and that's why we're taking such a strong position against it," Panter said.
Idaho Power officials announced in a news release March 23 that improved river flows this year, stemming from substantial snow reserves in the Snake River drainage, "should reduce rates approximately 12 percent from current levels." The rate change would come June 1, they said.
However, Idaho Power President and Chief Executive Officer LaMont Keen warned in the news release that the aquifer recharge project would reverse the gains and drive rates back up.
"This stream flow diversion could reverse this year's reduction in future years and drive rates up in all years," Keen said.
"We're not talking about water here that would impact ratepayers," Newcomb said. "I think there 're a lot of red herrings out there."
Sen. Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum, whose district includes Blaine County, voted in favor of the bill.
"I believe it restores the state's position under the Swan Falls Agreement that limits Idaho Power's water rights to (minimum water flows of) 3,900 (cubic feet per second) in summer and 5,600 cfs in winter," he said Tuesday.
Stennett said the bill isn't perfect, but will provide some redress to flawed legislation enacted in 1994.
"The Legislature mis-stepped in 1994," he said. "This bill undoes that."
Some opponents to the bill liken it to a water grab and say it doesn't address over-allocation of water rights.
"I think it's dangerous if the state gets involved in allocation," Stennett said.
He believes allocation should be handled by the ongoing Snake River Basin Adjudication, a legal and administrative process that stemmed from the Swan Falls Agreement.
"I myself am a surface water user, which would make me inclined not to support (the bill)," he said. "But I find the basis in the Swan Falls Agreement ... I just didn't have any other way of looking at it."
Swan Falls Dam is located just south of Boise on the Snake River.
The House of Representatives passed the bill March 17 on a vote of 43-22.
The Senate committee passed the bill on a 5-4 vote Monday. The full Senate could vote on it as early as Thursday.
Regardless of the vote, "It's going to court one way or the other," Stennett predicted.
