hmmm my math says it's about $0.000139534 per gallon if it's actually 43 bil gals
we must of went to differents schools i suppose

LOL....those pesky digits....you should see what it is when I first left my calc in hex mode. My calc doesn't go that high without the e-4. Cheap water.

Don't mind me. I haven't fished in 5 weeks. All work and no play makes me...well...insane.

I dunno?

I think that blaming the whole thing on liberals is still the best answer. It's much easier for good ol' fashioned, down home, red-blooded 'mericans to understand that way too...

4-Salt is right that it's so much easier to just blame it on liberals and avoid having to understand the issues.

With a plan like this going to the press, I'm dumbstruck that the Governor's office didn't include the rationale of why it makes sense for WA to pay public monies to two Indian tribes for water, that, if they'd thought about it, the majority of the public isn't going to have any intuitive sense about why these tribes own this water, if indeed they do. I track a lot of issues like this one, but I'm as puzzled as anyone. I think the gov screwed up and is making it easy for the critics. Provide some background and rationale. The public with half a brain or more will figure out if it's justified or not. The article as written just seems to make the Governor's office an easy target for criticism. Maybe this is a dumb ass idea, and maybe it isn't. Can anyone really figure it out with the info they provided?

Sg

Here's the detailed version:

http://www.governor.wa.gov/news/news-view.asp?pressRelease=726&newsType=1

A liberal plot to buy millions of gallons of water for almost nothing to give to a bunch of redneck Republican farmers and provide for fish habitat...that is exactly the type of logic I expect from the firebreathing, but not necessarily reality-based, RWWJ's* around here.

Thanks for the entertainment, dumbasses.

Fish on...

Todd

*For those who need help with the acronym, "RWWJ" means "Right Wing Whack Job"

Thanks for the link Stlhead. The press release says the money if for impacts to the Tribes. It seems like the impact to the Tribes is by the federal Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph reservoirs flooding tribal lands. Does it follow that since tribal lands are flooded, the water then belongs to the tribes? That could well be under water law; I don't know. So the state is buying the water that the tribes own via adverse possession? It seems like the deal might make sense, but the people who want the water, cities and irrigators, ought to be the ones buying and paying for it. But since an election year is coming up, and eastern WA votes Republican, Gregoire might buy a few votes by having all the state's taxpayers, most of whom live in western WA, buy the water for eastern WA cities and irrigators. But since they vote Republican, they aren't gonna' vote for her anyway. My brief analysis concludes it's a waste of my tax dollars.

Sg

Here's some more...the plot and the conspiracy thicken...there will be greater access to Rufus Woods for sportfishermen as part of the agreement, too.

Damn liberals.

Of course, WDFW will have to build the fishing accesses, and that will cost money...hence the furthering of the conspiracy.

Fish on...

Todd

**********************************************************************

New state-tribal agreement could
boost Rufus Woods Lake fishing

OLYMPIA – Anglers could gain additional fishing access to Rufus Woods Lake on the Colville Confederated Tribes (CCT) reservation under a pilot project agreement signed today by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and tribal officials.

If legislative funding for the project is approved, the agreement would allow non-tribal anglers to fish with either a Washington state fishing license or a Colville tribal fishing permit while they are fishing from a boat or from one of three proposed fishing access areas on the reservation. Under the agreement, non-tribal anglers fishing in non-designated, undeveloped areas within the reservation must carry a tribal fishing permit. All non-tribal anglers fishing with a Colville tribal fishing permit also must carry a Colville transport permit if catch is going to be taken off the reservation.

Rufus Woods Lake is a 51-mile-long, 7,800-acre reservoir on the upper Columbia River, created by Chief Joseph Dam. It forms the boundary between Douglas and Okanogan counties in North Central Washington, and the southern boundary of the Colville Indian Reservation. Open year-round, Rufus Woods Lake provides fishing for walleye, kokanee, and triploid rainbow trout. The state’s last three record rainbows were caught in the lake.

“Rufus Woods has become a high-quality fishery, and angler interest in the lake has increased substantially over the last seven years,” said WDFW North Central Regional Director Dennis Beich. “But access to the lake is primarily limited to two public boat ramps at either end. If funding is provided by the Legislature, up to three designated fishing access areas will be developed along the center of the lake’s north shore on the Colville Indian Reservation.”

The boundary of the Colville reservation is the center of the Columbia River bed, however determining and enforcing the actual boundary is difficult because the river has been inundated by dams, said Joe Peone, director of the CCT Fish and Wildlife Department. Through various agreements over the past 15 years, non-tribal anglers have been required to hold both a Colville tribal fishing permit and a Washington state fishing license when fishing Rufus Woods and Lake Roosevelt.

“This agreement is the product of a lot of hard work by both the Colville Tribes and WDFW to better serve the public who have come to regard Lake Rufus Woods as one of the premier fishing locations in the state,” said Peone. “The Colville Tribes have put a great deal of effort into developing and managing this fishery, and we are pleased to have worked out a good agreement with the state. We believe it is something that the Legislature can support as a genuine public benefit.”

WDFW Director Jeff Koenings applauded the cooperative effort.
“We greatly appreciate the Colville Tribes working with us to both simplify fishing license requirements and improve access to the lake,” Koenings said. “Increased access is important to future fishing and hunting opportunities throughout Washington state. This agreement is a good example of how we can work together to increase recreational opportunities for our citizens.”

WDFW will request $423,000 from the Legislature to fund the first year of the project, and will submit additional requests over the next four years.
Pending legislative funding, new fishing access areas will be developed over the next five years. Limited access could be available as early as 2008, with additional capital funding in future years for complete development of shoreline docks, boat ramps, restrooms and camping facilities.
The agreement also provides for increased WDFW and CCT enforcement and fish management staff in the area, including portions of the upper Columbia River’s Wells Pool and the Okanogan River, and provides additional fish stocking for Rufus Woods Lake.

The agreement is the result of several years of negotiation, and has recently gained impetus from the Governor’s Columbia River Water Management Program (CRWMP), which is developing additional Columbia River water supplies for irrigation and other purposes, including fishery needs. The agreement will be in effect and monitored for five years. If goals are being reached and both parties agree, it will be automatically renewed for an additional five years.

That logic doesn't follow....even for a sheister.

I doubt the "redneck republican farmer" cares what he does on the back of the "homo democrat idealist".

so if the tribes own the water , who owns the clouds?

As I said way back this is fricken INSANE!

So heres an idea....LATER



JAKE

Just so you know we pay for any water we use, By the way this redneck farmer is a democrat

Just wait one day they will come for those bulbs and berries in the tidelands of Mount Vernon

RvW, I'm not surprised that I actually have to explain this, but when I was pointing out the "logic" of the conspiracy, I was being fascetious...there is no conspiracy like the one that the RWWJ's were clamoring about at the beginning of this thread.

It's called "sarcasm"...

sod, you're not the farmer who's going to benefit from this, it's the dirt farmers in E. Washington...and a Democrat among them is about as rare as a Republican dittohead with an original thought.

bwp, good post...but the truth in it will be lost on the folks who would rather rate politicians based on the letter after their names (D- or R-) than by anything they actually do or do not do.

Fish on...

Todd

Todd---My apologies. I should have abided by my rule to not post when tired and a couple beers on board. After re-reading it I see the sarcasm. Sometimes I tend to be too literal. I'm worrkin' on it.lol....beep

That is a good point Todd.
Everything the Eastern Washington Rednecks can thank for their livelihoods and existence is due to some Commie Liberal's social project or another. Those (to coin a Vinceism) irrigant yokels over there blame all the country's woes on Roosevelt's New Deal and "Tax and Spend Liberals from Seattle" yet without the dams, the bridges, roads, and the highways that West sider's and federal taxes payed for, those morons would be living as sharecroppers in the biblebelt somewhere blaming their failing okra crops on someone else's laziness and the Gubmit.



RVW--I too have been laying off the likkered up postings. Thats why I've been a bit scarce.

...they're also the ones who get more welfare than any ten liberals combined, yet still whine about "the welfare state"...just like all the liberal conspiracy projects that built all of Eastern Washington for them to live there, they also get the benefit of absolutely massive billion dollar price controls and agriculture subsidies...complaining about them all the way to the bank.

Nothing like a little hypocrisy to get the ol' right wing blood boiling...their own hypocrisy, that is.

Fish on...

Todd

RvW,

Beep...LOL!!

Fish on...

Todd