Who wrote the Cooperative Agreement?
As you read through the list, notice who represents the Nebraska groundwater
irrigators. Keep in mind the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources has the
authority to regulate surface water for Nebraska. It does not have authority to
regulate groundwater. In Nebraska, the NRDs regulate groundwater, and the DNR
defends the States surface water rights.
The Cooperative Agreement is designed to protect surface water flows. Nebraska
groundwater irrigation was not represented; yet the Agreement will have a major
impact on groundwater irrigation, if it is implemented. The decision on whether
to implement the plan is in the hands of the Governor of Nebraska. He alone
decides if this proposal is good for Nebraska.
The Governance Committee is a group set up to draft the Cooperative Agreement.
The number of votes each group gets is in parentheses.
Primary
(1) Director, Wyoming Water
Development Office
(1) Goshen Irrigation District
(1) Nebraska Department of Natural
Resources
(1) Nebraska Public Power District
(1) Colorado Commissioner of
Agriculture
(1) Northern Colorado Water
Conservancy District
(2) U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Bureau of Reclamation
(2) Environmental Groups
National Audubon Society
The Platte River Whooping Crane Trust
National Wildlife Federation
Nebraska Wildlife Federation
American Rivers
Alternates
Wyoming State Engineer
Pathfinder Irrigation District
Central Nebraska Public Power and
Irrigation District
Denver Water Department
The first Cooperative Agreement was signed in 1997 by Governor Ben Nelson. He
committed the State of Nebraska to develop a Platte River Basin plan to comply
with the Endangered Species Act. The signing of the 1997 Agreement allowed NPPD
and CNPPID to obtain licenses to operate hydroelectric facilities on the Platte.
Recently, two of the members of this Governance Committee have made public
announcements (making headline news) that they support what they themselves helped write.