Federal Money for Columbia Basin Storage

Yakima Herald Republic Online - By DAVID LESTER

"A U.S. Senate spending bill allocates $2 million that supporters hope will complete a study of new storage in the Yakima River Basin next year. The funding, included in a Senate appropriations bill, marks the first time money to help find a solution to the basin's water shortage problems has originated in the Senate. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the bill Thursday. The money will finance work during 2007 on a study that has been narrowed to the proposed Black Rock reservoir, 40 miles east of Yakima, and a pump storage reservoir in the Yakima River Canyon that is known as Wymer. "