BILL REQUEST - CODE REVISER'S OFFICE

BILL REQ. #: H-2196.1/09 ATTY/TYPIST: ML:cro

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Requesting support for the Columbia Basin Project.

 

 

1 TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE

UNITED STATES, AND

 

 

2 TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER

OF THE HOUSE OF

 

 

3 REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE

 

 

4 UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE

HONORABLE CHRISTINE O.

 

 

5 GREGOIRE, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

 

 

6 We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives

of

 

 

7 the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled,

respectfully

 

 

8 represent and petition as follows:

 

 

9 WHEREAS, The Columbia Basin Project stores and carries

water for

 

 

10 irrigation, produces electricity, controls floods,

provides recreation,

 

 

11 and regulates streamflow, as well as provides water for cities,

 

 

12 industries, navigation, and endangered species; and

 

 

13 WHEREAS, The Columbia Basin Project has successfully

distributed

 

 

14 enough irrigation water for approximately 650,000 acres of

agricultural

 

 

15 lands between Grand Coulee and the Qu ad Cities; and

 

 

16 WHEREAS, The United States Bureau of Reclamation is studying the

 

 

17 potential for building the second half, or "Phase II," of the

Columbia

 

 

18 Basin Project, extending irrigation water into portions of the Odessa

 

 

19 Subarea;

 

 

 

 

Code Rev/ML:cro

1 H-2196.1/091

 

 

NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the

 

 

2 President and Congress support the vitally important Columbia Basin

 

 

3 Project and direct the United States Bureau of Reclamation to continue

 

 

4 its study and implementation of "Phase II" of the Columbia River Basin

 

 

5 Project. More directly, your Memorialists request that President Obama

 

 

6 and Governor Gregoire draft and sign Executive Orders

designed to

 

 

7 outline a Joint Venture Agreement between President Obama's

 

 

8 Administration and the Gregoire Administration to:

(1) Finance Phase

 

 

9 II of the Columbia Basin Project;

(2) finance the remainder of those

 

 

10 canals and reservoirs held within the East High Canal Project as

 

 

11 originally designed by Franklin D. Roosevelt's Administration;

(3) due

 

 

12 to the economic conditions of today's economic crisis, request

that all

 

 

13 funding options be mandated for review by the state and federal

 

 

14 governments; and

(4) due to the economic conditions of our nation,

 

 

15 request a "Fast Track" approach to this project being reviewed

and

 

 

16 adhered to.

 

 

17 BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately

 

 

18 transmitted to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United

 

 

19 States, the Honorable Christine O. Gregoire, Governor of the State of

 

 

20 Washington, the President of the United States Senate, the

Speaker of

 

 

21 the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress

from the

 

 

22 State of Washington.

 

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