District disagrees with bureau over impact dam projects have on schools

The Grand Coulee Dam School District is contesting the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s claim in a draft Environmental Assessment concerning the minimal impact it says a project will have on the district.

The USBR is planning on a 10-year project to update three generators, G19-21, in the Third Powerhouse starting in 2023, similar to the ongoing project of updating G22-24 that started in 2010, and is estimated to cost $100 million.

The USBR’s Environmental Assessment for the proposed G19-21 update, states that the project would have at most 103 workers and “could result in an increased enrollment of five students,” which it says is a high estimate.

The EA states that because most workers are temporary, and move from job to job, only a small margin would relocate their children to the local area to enroll in school.

A letter commenting on the EA from Superintendent Paul Turner and school board members Rich Black, George La Place, Carla Marconi, Kenneth Stanger, and Brenda Covington, asserts that student enrollment has increased by over 66 students since 2010, and that Bureau projects have fed into that increase.

“This has resulted in a budgetary shortfall of approximately $192,830 in 2018-19 alone,” the letter states. “This does not reflect additional amounts needed for special education programs as well as increased staffing needs and expenses. It also does not account for the reduction of services to the currently enrolled students. … Additional student enrollment is unquestionably expected through the life of these projects and thus far the Bureau has failed to consider this growing issue. Moreover, the Bureau has not offered or sought any solution or alternative otherwise to the detriment of the local community, members of the Colville Indian Tribe and neighboring Indian tribes, and the current and prospective students whose education is at stake here.”

Federal lands do not contribute towards property taxes from which school districts derive income.

“The Bureau needs to assist the District by ensuring funds for the additional students enrolled within the District throughout the life of this project,” the letter states. “This financial impact is expected to continue to occur over the life of this proposed modernization project. Ensuring funds for these additional students throughout the life of this project is essential because the District is already faced with financial constraints that are a result of cumulative Bureau projects that began in 2010 with the Third Powerplant Overhaul (2010), the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant Modernization Project (2012), and the New Fire Station (2015). These cumulative impacts have and will continue to result in an undeniable increase in student enrollment within the District, leaving it financially burdened and unable to provide high quality educational opportunities the District’s students need to ensure their future success.”

The letter also mentions 60 percent of the student body being tribal members, mostly from the Colville Confederated Tribes, “to whom the Bureau owes a trust responsibility.”

The letter is addressed to Brian Clark, project manager for USBR at the Grand Coulee Power Office. Copies of the letter are also being sent to Rep. Dan Newhouse, Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rogers, Sen. Maria Cantwell, and Sen. Patty Murray.