Cantwell Releases White Paper on Water Projects

Senator Maria Cantwell released a white paper Tuesday designed to foster the development of the future of drought and water projects.

Cantwell says the Yakima River Basin Plan can be a national example since, “It included the innovation where balanced, integrated with a holistic response, where tribe, fisherman, farmers and foresters all sat before us in agreement about how to move forward.”

Cantwell says she hopes for solutions that won’t have to spend years in a legal battle as to their implementation.

“Instead what we need are solutions that take an integrated, basin-scale approach, take into account all the needs in the watershed and make sure that they are locally-driven solutions, collaborative and consensus based.”

The white paper covered five total policy principles; collaboration, streamlined funding, using science, partnering with Tribal Nations among others, and balancing humans and the environment.

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