The Chronicle, 2/10/2001
OLYMPIA (AP) - The state's water rights backlog has left some people waiting a decade for permission to dig a well or irrigate their fields. These people aren't happy, and they've let their elected officials know.
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Gov. Gary Locke is responding by vowing to keep the Legislature in session until lawmakers pass at least three prongs of his plan to speed up water rights processing.
Republican Rep. Gary Chandler, co-chairman of the House Agriculture and Ecology Committee, said if he had the power he would vow to keep the governor in town until he signs water rights legislation.
The two agree on the urgency of the water problem the state has a backlog of 7,000 water rights applications, is facing a drought and is struggling with an energy crunch that makes hydroelectric power particularly crucial.
"We're looking at the possibility of a major drought," Locke said Thursday. "If that's not incentive enough for them to act... they would be derelict in ,their duties."
Locke said his main priorities are:
"Within a few years we want to eliminate the backlog at the Department of Ecology," Locke said.
The two-lines bill passed the Senate last year but failed to make it to the House floor. Locke did not call the Legislature back to address the issue then, though he could have.
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