Water Conference – Holdrege, Feb. 2 event at the Phelps County Ag Center is free and open to the public. It is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. and end at 3 p.m.

Jim Goeke, a University of Nebraska Conservation and Survey Division groundwater expert, is to give the keynote address. Other speakers include Charles Lamphear, an agricultural economist and the retired director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Bureau of Business Research; Bruce Dodson of Agri Affiliates; Glenn Taubenheim of Sargent Irrigation; UNL extension educator Chuck Burr; and Marcia Trompke, conservation director for Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District. Presentations about the future of the area's water supplies will end the day.

 

Tuesday January 24 – Osborne and Brunning announce plans to talk with Kansas on Jan 26 about the Republican River

 

Wednesday January 25 – Schrock calls for a halt to all new irrigation wells in Nebraska.  Buetler calls for the shut down of any well drilled after Jan 2001.

 

Friday report on Thursday Osborne/Bruning meeting with Kansas –

“There is a strong effort by the producers (to comply) with the agreement, and I believe Nebraska is making a good-faith effort in compliance," said Attorney General Phill Kline.

But Kansas won't settle for anything less than its share of the water in the Republican River, Kline said.

"If the numbers don't add up, our position is that the agreement is still in force," he said.

Another lawsuit, however, apparently is not expected over the river troubles between the two states. "I don't anticipate litigation," Kline said.

Osborne plans to reintroduce legislation seeking $200,000 to $300,000 for a federal study to find ways to increase the efficiency of releasing water to Kansas irrigators from Harlan County Lake in Nebraska.

Osborne and Moran also plan to jointly seek an estimated $8 million to $10 million to spray noxious plants in the riverbed. The plants consume huge amounts of water that otherwise would flow in the river.