Letter to the Editor

Another perfect storm threatens the Republican River valley

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Seventy years ago the Republican River valley and its citizens were hammered with the worst flood in Nebraska history. This natural disaster was the result of a perfect storm -- a high pressure system from the Great Lakes colliding with a low pressure system from the Gulf of Mexico. The collision took place over the headwaters of the Republican River in southwestern Nebraska.

The resulting flood came at night, and as witnesses recount, generated a roar that could be heard for miles. The toll of this flood was staggering: 94 Nebraskans killed; 8,100 livestock destroyed; 351 miles of highway and 307 bridges damaged or destroyed. 57,000 acres of farmland were destroyed. In today's dollars, the property value loss was well over 100 million dollars.

Some 15 years after the flood, Harlan County Dam was built in order to prevent a 1935 disaster from ever occurring again.

Today, 70 years after the flood of '35, another perfect storm has formed and is threatening Republican River basin farmers and communities. The Harlan Dam cannot save us from this impending tidal wave that has been created, not by Mother Nature, but rather, our own government. I speak, of course, of the Kansas lawsuit settlement agreement that has forced all three Republican River NRDs to draw up strict regulations on groundwater use that surely will have a significant negative impact on production if sufficient rain fails to fall during a water short year.

The communities all up and down this valley were built and are now sustained by the dollars irrigated agriculture pumps into the local economies every year. These dollars churn through the economy and multiply. These dollars bolster the tax base and keep it vibrant and healthy. Everything we associate with a high quality of life is directly and inextricably linked to the production of new wealth generated by irrigated agriculture. Irrigated agriculture is the heart and soul of this valley. It is not dispensable. There is no substitute for it. It is the end all-be all of this valley.

No other endeavor, bird watching, boating, tourism, hunting, fishing even comes close. But, sadly, it seems our government holds a different view as it seeks to put a chokehold on irrigators down here to satisfy the terms of the settlement agreement.

All of this is maddening because irrigators in the Republican River NRDs have at all times complied with our state laws and local NRD rules and regulations. Since 1943, when the compact took effect, the state DNR repeatedly over the years officially held the position that groundwater was not included in the compact allocations of Republican River water. Irrigators trusted the DNR -- and over the years carried out their business plans accordingly by, in many cases, drilling new wells, installing pumps, and investing in center pivot sprinkler systems. Such reasonable and prudent business decisions involved huge sums of money being expended, all in reliance on the state's own stated policy. New we are told that our reliance and investments were a mistake.

Why is only groundwater irrigation being framed and targeted as the chief culprit? One top water expert from the University of Nebraska has said, that on a scale of 1 to 10, the effect of groundwater pumping on Republican River flow is maybe a 1. Bureau of Reclamation studies have verified that the biggest impact on Republican River flows are conservation measures -- terracing, eco-fallow, farm ponds, CRP and conservation tillage, for example, that keep water on the land and from draining into the river.

The Bureau also stresses that riparian vegetation on the riverbanks consumes huge amounts of river water. The terms of the settlement do not require that Nebraska only regulate groundwater use, but that is just what the DNR has decided to do, and it is wrong, and must be reconsidered.

Nebraska farmers are a responsible, resourceful and resilient bunch. They have learned how to manage all sorts of risks to produce a crop. These risks include weather, pestilence, foreign competition, low commodity prices, high energy costs, to name a few. They are good stewards of the land and our water resources. How they successfully compete with farmers in Iowa and Illinois where rain is plentiful is a miracle to me, but not to them because they know what they are doing and have learned how to manage risk.

But now I believe the risk level will hit a new and unbearable high if the DNR's groundwater regulation program is implemented. I have heard from a number of good, young farmers who say they are thinking very seriously of getting out of farming because of the new and onerous groundwater regulations.

The CREP program may keep some farmers afloat, but it will do grievous harm to all others who rely upon the new dollars generated by crop production. Ag chemical and fertilizer producers and distributors; seed producers; manufacturers of grain storage facilities and other farm buildings; implement dealers and livestock producers who rely upon a plentiful and reliable supply of grain and low transport costs will all be adversely impacted as land is taken out of production.

In his famous "Cross of Gold" speech before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1896, Nebraska's own William Jennings Bryan said, "Burn down your cities and leave our farms and your cities will spring up again as if by magic -- but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country." Nebraska irrigated agriculture is under assault. The Kansas lawsuit settlement agreement, LB 962, the Cooperative Agreement program involving the Platte River and the drought are all being wielded against irrigators. The time to stand up and defend our rights and freedoms is now.

-- Don Adams is Executive Director of Nebraskans First, a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots organization of Nebraska farmers dedicated to protecting Nebraska's groundwater for agriculture.

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