Records per page:
DateNameCompanyComment
 Lisa BrownWaterWatch of OregonRE: Comments on Extension Applications for Permits G-17100 and G-17441 (Golden Rule Farms); and request for cancellation of both permits and enforcement against illegal use. NOTE: Due to the word limit in WRIS, these are summary comments only. For WaterWatch’s full comments, please refer to the emailed letter. Application G-16867, Permit G-17441 Summary Comment: The extension cannot lawfully be issued and should be denied, the permit should immediately be cancelled and enforcement immediately taken against the use of water until HARN 51904 is partially abandoned as required by permit and identification of an exempt livestock well for irrigation (i.e. before the 2019 irrigation season) because the permit holder is illegally using water due to ongoing violations of the vast majority of critical permit conditions and terms.
 Dustin Parnell I do not believe that the water table can support more wells. Residents are already seeing significant decline in the level of their existing wells. It is not acceptable to continue to add pivots when the wells are now taking from each other. If this continues there will be no more water left for the city wells. I have a family to raise and we need water to survive.
 Jenifer McCanna I am concerned about the amount of water rights that have been given out in recent years. This region is classified as high desert. According to macmillandictionary.com a desert is a large area of land classified by few plants and LITTLE WATER. I would like to put emphasis on the term little water. Less than a year ago Governor Brown has declared The Harney County to be in a state of emergency drought. I will include a link to an article on this topic. How can a government agency justify allowing more water to be siphoned out of the existing water table less than a year after a public declaration of emergency drought? I have lived the greater portion of my life in Harney County and have throughout that time heard numerous conversations about the drought we suffer. It is a constant topic discussed about the amount of precipitation and whether it will be enough to sustain this community's current lifestyle. I cannot fathom the amount of damage that can be done by allowing further pivots to be added. What will my children face in a few years when the water is all gone? https://www.bluemountaineagle.com/news/governor-declares-drought-in-third-oregon-county/article_d3cbd441-eebc-53ae-80e1-4ab457d3a334.html
 keith jordan People I know that live in the rural areas are seeing their well water depth drop significantly. Even though my wife and I live in Burns we will ultimately feel the effect of water loss sometime in the future. New pivots continue to blanket Harney county even though common sense dictates that this is simply not sustainable. We are considered the high desert and our water can not survive this attack. Something must be done to stop this depletion of our water resource by a few people who benefit financially.
 Jessica Rodgers These pivots are a threat to citizens homes. If you continue to grant these, people will have to start transporting water to the area. In the 1930s California had to start transporting water from the Colorado River to Southern California. That is the direction we are heading with all of these wells and pivots being put in place. Home owners around the area are watching their wells drop at alarming rates, soon it will cause them to have to drop down deeper. What happens when deeper isn't an option? Data from the Oregon water resources website states, Harney County has been placed on the drought registry list 9 times since 1991. Also 397 wells have been placed since the year 2000. If you would like a visual demonstration, see the website below, this is a picture of the area in which you want to grant more permission for pivots. https://earth.google.com/web/@43.34974512,-119.07889041,1259.81515669a,17665.92321439d,35y,0h,11.02378732t,360r
 LAURIE OCONNORCITIZENAs a stock owner and long term resident near this well, having watched 3 of our stock and residential wells drop precipitously in the past two years, I am firmly opposed to any more permit extensions or well transfers that may impact our area. OWRD should be firmly denying any water development in the Harney Basin based on the evidence of extreme over-allocation already affecting our water resources. Why would more development be permitted? As an area of critical review, no extensions should have been approved since the beginning of the 2015 study! None. Now, as evidence of severely depleted water tables are clearly demonstrated, I do not think any new extensions should be allowed. If water is legally considered the State's resource, why has it not protected for the Common Public?
 Diane Rapaport As chair of the Domestic and Municipal Working Group of the Community Planning Process, I strongly object to the issuance of this extension. In 2015, OWRD issued an announcement that no new wells would be permitted until the results of a groundwater study by OWRD and USGS (likely 2020). A Groundwater Advisory Study Advisory Committee was subsequently jointly appointed by OWRD and the Harney County Commissioner. This committee determined that 39 wells found to be exempt in OWRD’s 2015 announcement COULD be issued permits if they met specific conditions identified by this committee. The groundwater development and additional wells that would be allowed by issuance of this proposed extension are not part of the 39 wells. An extension would have the same effect as a new permit. Use of these wells would further deplete the aquifer in an area that already has excessive groundwater declines. Use of this well potentially interferes with wells owned by senior rights holders in the area. And certainly it affects wells owned by domestic users in the area. The area is of particular concern in the groundwater study being conducted by OWRD and USGS because groundwater in this area is declining far more rapidly than in other areas. There is also a widening cone of depression causing failure in groundwater and domestic wells. OWRD should deny the extension. .
 Erwin & Ellen Yarbrough We have serious concerns about allowing more pivots in this area. We have been losing water level the past few years as more and more pivots are installed and used in our area. We feel it is wrong to add more pivots when it damages the water levels of existing wells and the value of our land. These new wells will put money in the pockets of the owners at the cost of of making our well worthless. We would urge you to deny the request for more pivots. This basin will not sustain such over use. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Erwin S. and Ellen Yarbrough
 Monica McCanna "As a member of the Domestic and Municipal Working Group of the Harney County Community Water Planning Process (the collaborative), I strongly object to a transfer for an area in which the investigation has already been shown to have declining water levels that are interfering with other domestic and groundwater wells and it is an area with a widening cone of depression. It would be unwise to grant the transfer. We cannot continue to let the area be mined for it's water.
 Ben McCanna1961I am very concerned about these new placements of pivots and the wells that supply there water? In our area we are already experiencing big drop in our water levels. We are under a water moratorium where is the water coming from? I am trying to understand how come a large company such as this would want to destroy all the surrounding water table. When Joe Eckley had the place. He had he own well drilling machine and he put wells in all over the place. Are these wells even register with the state? It looks like there could be some questions about where the water is coming from?
12