Idaho gets DOGE’d with Anderson Ranch Dam expansion project | Opinion
Elon Musk is long gone from the federal government scene, but his impacts are going to be felt for years to come.
We’re just now beginning to see the fruits of Musk’s chainsaw labor and the work of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which made arbitrary and draconian cuts to federal agencies.
His actions included cuts to dozens of agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, National Institutes of Health, National Endowments for Arts and for Humanities, Veterans Affairs, Education, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Labor, Social Security Administration — and the Bureau of Reclamation, a federal agency under the Department of Interior that manages major dams and reservoirs throughout the West.
Cuts to that bureau are now being felt acutely in Idaho, according to a story from Boise State Public Radio (which, by the way, also faces as much as 20% funding cut by a budget rescission package requested by President Trump and approved by all four of Idaho’s federal lawmakers).
A vital project to raise Anderson Ranch Dam to create more water storage for the the Treasure Valley has been delayed because of federal staffing shortages, according to Boise State Public Radio’s James Dawson.
The Bureau of Reclamation told Idaho water officials they’ve lost the technical design leader, supporting staff, along with workers handling contracts, according to Boise State Public Radio.
The project would raise Anderson Ranch Dam by 6 feet and increase water storage by 29,000 acre-feet, or 9.4 billion gallons.
Even with that added capacity, there’s still not enough water storage to meet demand of an estimated 1.6 million people in the Treasure Valley, according to the project’s initial feasibility study.
Construction was scheduled to begin this year and take 3.5-4 years to complete, according to the study.
Now, the design phase deadline has been moved to next spring, and construction completion is not expected until 2031, according to Boise State Public Radio.
Water is Idaho’s lifeblood
There can be no greater issue to Idaho’s future than water. It feeds one of our largest and most important segments of our economy: agriculture, which accounts for 97% of Idaho’s water use. Water is also vital for development and the new residents flooding the state. If we want to maintain our ranking as one of the fastest growing states in the nation, we’re going to need more water storage capacity.
Water is the lifeblood of this state.
It’s worth pointing out that when Idaho faced a water curtailment crisis recently, one of the solutions was increasing water storage around the state, including even rebuilding the Teton Dam, which collapsed as it was being filled for the first time in 1976, killing 11 people and 16,000 livestock and laying waste to small towns near Rexburg.
We would never suggest rebuilding Teton Dam, but we support other ideas for increasing storage capacity.
To do so, though, requires employees with the Bureau of Reclamation to shepherd these projects through.
Sure, Elon Musk saved the federal government some money by getting rid of some Bureau of Reclamation employees. But at what cost?
Idaho’s federal delegation of Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch and Reps. Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher along with just about every Republican politician in Idaho, including Gov. Brad Little, have done a lot of kissing up to Trump.
Heck, Simpson even proposed renaming an opera house at the Kennedy Center after Melania Trump.
Wouldn’t it be nice if some of that sucking up to Trump actually paid off in ways that actually help Idaho, such as getting the Anderson Ranch Dam expansion constructed?
Otherwise, what’s the point of sucking up to Trump? An endorsement in the next primary?
How about it? One Melania Trump Opera House for one Anderson Ranch Dam expansion project? One trifling plaque over a doorway that feeds a megalomaniac’s ego in exchange for making sure Idaho has enough water to secure its future?
There’s a quid pro quo that we could support.
Statesman editorials are the opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser and community members John Hess, Debbie McCormick and Julie Yamamoto.