<I>Chieftain file photo</I><BR>The Wallowa Lake dam is in need of rehabilitation, which could be accomplished if a bill sponsored by Oregon senators Gordan Smith and Ron Wyden gets through the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Senate passed the Wallowa Lake Dam Rehabilitation and Water Management Act Sept. 15. The Act, SB 1355, was introduced by Oregon senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden Sept. 15. The Senate passed similar legislation, also sponsored by Smith and Wyden, in 2002.

“The projects authorized by this bill represent a positive approach to resolving the water issues facing the Wallowa River Basin,” Smith said. “The hard work put into these projects by federal, state, and local interests is one step closer to being rewarded.”

“The Senate has done the right thing by listening to folks in eastern Oregon and approving this home-grown, creative solution to water management,” Wyden said. “It’s my hope to see this bill move to the President’s desk so rehabilitation work can start at Wallowa Dam.”

Carol Guthrie, a Wyden spokesperson, said that Wyden is hopeful that the Act will be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and that he will be active in boosting its chances. “The senator is always willing to talk to anyone towards furthering the goals of Oregonians, and he’ll go as long as it takes to provide help to get this through,” she said.

The act would authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation, to participate in, and provide funding for, the rehabilitation of the Wallowa Lake Dam and the Wallowa Valley Water Management Plan. Local entities have developed these two projects with the participation of numerous state and federal agencies and the support of local tribal leaders.

The owner of the Wallowa Lake Dam is the Associated Ditch Company. ADC President Darrell McFetridge said of the Senate action, “It feels great. Now I just hope it will get through the House of Representatives.”

ADC Vice President Jim Dawson said, “We have a long battle ahead of us. Even if it passes the House the process will include two to three years for an environmental impact study.” He said the deteriorating dam is inspected annually and remains operable as long as the ADC remains within required safety guidelines.

The Wallowa County Agriculture Water Users Association has long been opposed to SB 1355. WCAWUA President Gordon Wolfe said, “It is unfortunate that Senators Smith and Wyden were so poorly informed about this bill that they pushed it through the Senate without understanding the long-term consequences to Wallowa County.” Wolfe did not care to elaborate on what those long-term consequences were.

In its original form the Wallowa Lake Dam Rehabilitation and Water Management Act was a $32 million project to rehabilitate the aging Wallowa Lake Dam, provide fish passage from the Wallowa River through the dam to Wallowa Lake, create a water exchange infrastructure downstream for fish enhancement between the Wallowa River, Lostine River and Bear Creek, and provide a hydropower facility at the dam.

The hydropower portion of the plan has been removed from the project.

The bill passed the Senate attached to 43 other bills and had no budgetary numbers added.

Jeff Oveson of the Grande Ronde Model Watershed, who helped write the vision statement for the project in February 2001, said that dam proponents have a lot of work to do. He said that proponents are counting on the help of Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, but will be opposed by Chuck Cushman and the American Land Rights group.

Dawson described the Senate bill as “enabling legislation” that would only provide for the water exchange portion of the proposed project, if the landowners in the Lower Valley are willing. “The ADC has absolutely nothing to do with that,” Dawson said, before adding that “if the Lostine folks want it, it could be a total project.”

Dawson said that preliminary engineering has been done on the dam portion of the project, but that very little actual engineering has been done on the water exchange.

If passed by the House, approved dollars would go toward engineering, which, Dawson said, could be worked on at the same time as the EIS.

Dawson estimated that the cost of the EIS would amount to $1 million for studies in the Upper Valley and $1 million in the Lower Valley.