Bureau and school district disagree on project impact

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Grand Coulee Dam School District disagree on the impact a bureau project will have on local schools.

The USBR is planning a 10-year project to update three generators, named 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 January 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. “Additional student enrollment is unquestionably expected through the life of these projects and thus far the Bureau has failed to consider this growing issue. … 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 final EA stands by the claim of the draft EA and doesn’t address the district’s comments, which are not included.

“The presence of five additional students in the school district during the construction phase of the Grand Coulee EA project is not anticipated to have long-term implications, even in the presence of the other projects identified,” the EA reads. “Cumulative impacts associated with increased school enrollment are expected to be small and temporary.”

Turner disagrees, believing that the bureau has a responsibility to help invest in the community built around its dam.

“I stand by my letter,” he said Tuesday. “One of these days, maybe the right person from the bureau will be able to understand. I’m hoping to be able to take it a little further, maybe to some legislators, somewhere along the line. I feel, and I think the board feels, the bureau needs to step up to the plate, and that’s not happening.”