A Deep Dive !
Someone asked if we could get out of the Bear Lake Settlement Agreement
Guilt by association! I can see how it is easy to get the wrong impression of the Settlement Agreement - because we so often reference the agreement when talking about how much water is being taken out of the lake. So, let me set the historical background to help us understand how this all came about.
The authorization to use Bear Lake as a storage facility, started 142 years ago! In 1888, the powers of the federal government decided that the lake and area around it would be Reserved from transfer of ownership and would be held for development as a federal reservoir project for irrigation for the arid region. Bear Lake was officially designated as “Ut – Id Reservoir Site #1”, with a plan to raise a dam that would add ten feet on top of the natural lake elevations. This would have inundating lands already settled and there is little doubt that it would have destroyed the very nature of the lake and its shoreline.
It was an interesting time when Washington politicians were trying build a political hold on the western territories that were vying for statehood, while industrialists were attempting to grow fortunes through the mining industries booming in the west and agriculture was becoming an industry rather than a survival skill - all of which could grow exponentially by adding electricity provided by hydro-power!
Washington never got its act together… And there sat Bear Lake, an untapped “gold mine” as the lynch-pin to control the waters of the Bear River as it drops the 1700 feet into the Salt Lake valley. It is no wonder that by 1907, a private industry would finally wrangle the authorization to build structures and hold storage rights to Bear Lake. However, it was only granted once the proposal combined Power Generation and Irrigation. It wouldn't have worked without acquiring agreements with the agricultural companies in the lower basins who already held the water rights to the natural flow of the river.
There were no environmental protection laws or even considerations for the “lake” – it was just a container to be “used”. Even as the U.S. has developed extensive natural resource law and administration, the private industries of Power and Agriculture, with the blessing of the States, have managed to keep the operations of our lake excluded from federal scrutiny. (I’m sure there is some good and bad tied together in all that.)
In the 1920’s, Irrigators sued the power company to ensure their deliveries - the uses were somewhat settled by the courts’ Decrees. On a larger stage, it took the Federal Bear River Compact of the 1950s to settle disputes between the three states (Utah, Idaho and Wyoming) therein defining apportionment of the river’s supply. Well, almost settled, as there was an Amended Compact in 1980, expanding possible storage and use.(As always, only about use!)
It wasn’t until 1992 when some brave BearLakers found an opening and executed legal action that brought the parties to the table - leading to the signing of the Bear Lake Settlement Agreement (BLSA) which: - # 1 curbed the use of water throughout drought periods,
- # 2 tightened the measuring and monitoring of the releases,
- #3 established a “recovery” pool for the lake
- #4 created a seat at the table for Bear Lake interests.
The Bear Lake Settlement Agreement is the first and only defense of these waters of Bear Lake and is now intertwined into the “law of the river” among the states.
No, we don’t want to get out of this agreement. Yes, we do want to uphold it and strengthen it when opportunity arises.
Thanks for Caring enough to ask, Claudia
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