Heineman signs Platte River agreement

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BY NATE JENKINS / Lincoln Journal Star

Gov. Dave Heineman has signed the three-state Platte River Cooperative Agreement as he said he would last week. The only remaining signature needed for the landmark agreement is that of Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal.

In a letter last week, Heineman said the deal gives farmers and ranchers some protection from federal action and protects agriculture in the Panhandle.

“We have a rare opportunity to work with water users and the environmental community to achieve federal objectives for the Endangered Species Act while respecting the need to preserve each of our states’ agricultural economies,” Heineman wrote in the letter to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Freudenthal and Colorado Gov. Bill Owens. Owens signed the agreement last week.

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Heineman

Heineman

The river recovery plan called for in the agreement includes acquiring land for wildlife habitat in Nebraska and increasing river flows at key times.

Some groundwater irrigators see the plan as another government attack on their livelihoods and rural communities because it could take thousands of irrigated acres out of production.

The Central Platte Natural Resources District, a public body that manages an irrigation-heavy area and that strongly opposes the deal, does not plan on posing a legal challenge to the agreement, according to its manager, Ron Bishop.

Heineman has said he will pull out of the agreement quickly if any of the involved parties act in bad faith.

The plan is designed to help guide Platte River Basin entities in complying with the Endangered Species Act while retaining their access to federal water, land or funding. The goal is to improve the Platte River and protect habitat for the whooping crane, piping plover, interior least tern and pallid sturgeon.

It will cost about $317 million, with $157 million coming from the Interior Department and the rest from the three states in cash, land and water. Federal dollars have not yet received final approval.

Colorado plans to pitch in $24 million in cash, and Wyoming $6 million in cash. Nebraska doesn’t have to pay any cash.

The remaining $130 million for the plan is being contributed with water and land credits: The three states must together contribute 80,000 acre-feet of water, an estimated $120 million value, and Wyoming and Nebraska will contribute about 26,500 acres of land, a $10 million value.

A spokeswoman for Freudenthal said he is reviewing the agreement and has not yet made a decision.

“There’s probably no overwhelming reason for him not to sign it,” said spokeswoman Lara Azar.