From Lexington Clipper-Herald - June 30, 2004

Governor Johanns meets with Dawson County commissioners
By Barb Bierman Batie
Staff Writer

   LEXINGTON – The perceived loss of local control and the imposition of well-drilling moratoriums under LB 962 were among the main concerns listed by Dawson County Commissioners and their constituents Tuesday morning during a special meeting at the Dawson County Extension office.
   Gov. Mike Johanns attended the meeting, where the sole agenda item was to discuss Nebraska and Dawson County water issues.
   Johanns told those attending the meeting that Nebraska was not alone in their bout with drought. "Literally from this point across the western United States every state is in a severe drought," noted the governor.
   Johanns recently attended the Western Governor's Association meeting and noted the only two states in the association not in a drought are Alaska and Hawaii. "Everything else ranges from moderate to exceptional drought, the worst ranking on the National Drought Monitor."
   "East of Lexington quite honestly the rains have been plentiful, but as you are well aware there are some very difficult situations out there," he said. "Without irrigation you don't have agriculture and without agriculture you don't have much of an economy in the state of Nebraska."
   In an attempt to take a proactive stance in staving off further water woes and trying to address current conflicts, the Governor appointed a 49-member Water Policy Task Force in 2002 that spent the better part of a year coming up with a set of recommendations on how to resolve those conflicts while treating the affected water users fairly.
   Those recommendations were incorporated into LB 962, a bill described by many as the most significant water policy legislation passed since 1996 when the issue of conjunctive use was addressed in LB 108.
   Signed into law on April 15, 2004, LB 962 addressed integrated management provisions, transfers of surface water rights adjudication of surface water rights, transfers of groundwater off the overlying land and establishment of a Water Resources Trust Fund to implement LB 962.
   County Commissioner Dean Kugler noted that constituents from the western part of the county were concerned that the bill removes local water user input and transfers that input to a control group. "Will it (local control) ever get back into their hands?"
   Johanns noted his preference is to try and manage things based on local control and that is why key elements of LB 962 have the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) working with Natural Resource Districts (NRDs) involved in moratoriums.
   Annual reviews of "fully appropriated" and "over appropriated" basins will be conducted starting in January 2006.
   Well-drilling moratoriums are not new to Nebraska, said Johanns, who pointed out that the Upper Republican Basin has had moratoriums for 20-25 years.
   In the meantime they will continue to conduct research and compile data that will assist the state in determining how much ground and surface water are interrelated in various parts of the state, noted Jim Cook of the DNR.
   State Sen. Ed Schrock of Elm Creek also attended the meeting and noted he has been concerned with the amount of wells being drilled in association with the drought and also with the pending moratoriums.
   "Three hundred new wells were drilled in the Lower Republican NRD after the moratorium was enacted," he noted.
   Several questions reflected concerns that surface water rights could be taken away by LB 962.
   "There is nothing in 962 that would take away water rights," said Johanns. "There may be incentive, voluntary programs introduced in areas deemed over appropriated. Congressman Osborne is working on a pilot program to idle acres in certain river basins that would provide incentive payments. The Western Governors Association is trying to get folks on the national level to recognize that drought is every bit as significant a natural disaster as a flood or tornado," he added.
   If acres are idled another concern is the loss of tax base associated with changing valuation on ground from irrigated to dryland, noted Kugler.
   Other concerns introduced ranged from the increasing use of water by trees growing in the Platte River channel to the reduced surface water allotments many waters users in the county will receive this summer from their respective canals.
   Provisions of the Cooperative Agreement and reform of the Endangered Species Act were also pointed out as keys to resolving many water problems. Because both involve federal agencies those issues also require assistance from the state's Congressional delegation, noted the governor.