The federal Bureau of Reclamation is “releasing” $18.1 million in stimulus money due to a delay in an environmental assessment of a major Leavenworth Fish Hatchery dam project the Recovery Act would have funded.
An announcement posted on the Leavenworth Fish Hatchery Web site blames “deadline constraints” for the decision to re-allocate the funds. The Hatchery earlier announced that a problem with ice on fish screens had delayed publication of an environmental assessment originally promised in early November.
But numerous other obstacles stood in the way of the project, including a newly issued 401 certification order from the state Department of Ecology that held an imposing list of restrictions and deadlines for water-quality and flow quotas on the Icicle. Experts have questioned whether the Hatchery can meet the guidelines, particularly given competing demands for water from the river and global warming trends toward less water available in the river itself.
All things considered, it makes perfect sense for the Hatchery to capitulate on stimulus funding. As The Watchery pointed out repeatedly, the hatchery project never qualified for the funding in the first place. The plan offered little in the way of new jobs, was so far from “shovel ready” that a legal description of it did not even exist at the time funding was announced, and held none of the “green” ecological benefits that President Obama expressed preference for in formulating stimulus guidelines.
“Losing ARRA (stimulus) funding for the hatchery water intake is a disappointing setback, but we remain committed to working with local interests to find a solution that ensures that the hatchery continues to support commercial, recreational, and tribal salmon fisheries,” said Tim Personius, Deputy Regional Director of the BOR.
Although Hatchery officials undoubtedly are displeased with the decision, their refusal to consider public concern and input in announcing their plans in early December contributed untold community bitterness toward the proposal. In an election year, even an off-year, the political consequences of ignoring the voice of the public cannot be understated.
The real shame is that had the Hatchery shown a receptiveness to or flexibility for some of the alternatives put forward on The Watchery, especially in Dick Rieman’s series of informative and forward-looking articles, stimulus funding might have been salvaged. But a “my way or the highway” attitude that included re-damming a river on the way to restoration meant nothing but unrest, opposition and legal challenges down the road.
All that aside, it should be re-emphasized that all parties seek a solution that will keep salmon and other fish runs as well as plant life healthy and abundant on the Icicle. If the goal is to save the Leavenworth Fish Hatchery from inevitable decline or closure, then all parties will — as we’ve argued all along — have to sit down together and come up with a far-sighted, socio-economically beneficial and technologically sophisticated solution to the current impasse over the future of Icicle Creek.
