Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I rise to join Senator Merkley and cosponsor a bill that strikes a balance between the competing demands for a scarce resource, Crooked River water. The Crooked River Collaborative Water Security Act of 2013 is the product of long and determined negotiations to find solutions that will benefit many interests in and around Prineville, Oregon. I was pleased to work to advance this bill last Congress, and I look forward to working with Senator Merkley, other colleagues, and all the supporters of the bill to achieve the many benefits of this bill for Central Oregon.

Oregon works best when Oregonians work together and this is an example of what can be done when faced with a very challenging set of issues. The City of Prineville needs water to grow economically. Irrigators along the Crooked River want certainty for future water supply. The local utility Portland General Electric would like to build a small hydroelectric plant on the Bureau of Reclamation's Bowman Dam. And the Warm Springs Tribes and conservation groups seek to ensure more water is available for in-stream flows to protect reintroduced salmon runs in the Crooked River.

Water in the West is often the heart of many contentious battles, but these parties and more worked tirelessly and in good faith to build a consensus to meet those many important needs. The bill allocates uncontracted water in Bowman Dam to give water to the City and for fish populations, while attaining certainty for the contracted water for irrigation. It also moves the Wild and Scenic River Act boundary to a place that makes sense and would enable hydroelectric generation. The bill more explicitly looks after the recreation interests enjoyed by flatwater users above the dam.

I express my gratitude for the many groups and individuals who have worked diligently to strike the balance on the Crooked River. I look forward to working with those groups, the Bureau of Reclamation, Congressman Greg Walden, and especially Senator Merkley, who has shown determined leadership in marshaling this bill, to move this bill through Congress and to the President's desk this Congress.

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