Transcript

Bruce Newcomb: The economics of water

One of the things we have not talked about [yet are] the economics of water. There is diminishing returns, price elasticity, price commodities, forfeiture and abandonment, high lift projects on the Colombia and the Snake which I think you will see in the very near future go back to their original state because of price elasticity. And so I wonder if you look at the components of state law like forfeiture and abandonment -- I think that [component] forces people to use their water when in fact they may not want to use their water because over a 5-year period of time, they could forfeit it if they don't use it for beneficial use. So that means that you need to have more freedom as far as you do that because with groundwater, for example, you have a difficult time figuring out how you are going to water bank it and make it work as far as flows into the Snake River at Thousand Springs. And those are the kind of issues I think are going to play in how we are going to use water in the future because I think that you are probably buying water right now, John, that would go down to the Snake River whether you paid for it or not.

Back to Discussion page