Pipe irrigation using water provided by the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District. (Courtesy of Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District)
LINCOLN — After a morning-long hearing Friday, irrigators in central Nebraska were granted formal legal standing to protest the proposed “merger” of the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District with the nearby Dawson Power District.
The Nebraska Power Review Board will take testimony Jan. 27 over whether to approve the consolidation, which would involve the dissolution of the Dawson district and its incorporation into a renamed Central district:the Platte Valley Public Power and Irrigation District.
A group of irrigators from Phelps County in the Central district has opposed the move, saying it endangers the delivery of water to them and would saddle Central with debts accumulated by Dawson.
Backers of the merger, which was approved by both the Central and Dawson boards earlier this fall, has touted it as a way to save electric and administrative costs and as a way to capitalize on reliable energy from Central’s smaller hydropower plants.
Central, based in Holdrege, operates four hydropower plants, including one at Lake McConaughy, and maintains a series of canals to supply surface water irrigators. Dawson, based in Lexington, sells power to retail customers, including many irrigators.
The Power Review Board, which reviews projects of public power districts, made the ruling following a nearly three-hour hearing over whether residents of such districts could legally protest such a consolidation.
The hearing, before a standing-room-only audience of irrigators and state power district executives, devolved at times into arguments over the meaning of commas and the legal difference between “or” and “and.”
But a lawyer for the irrigators, Michael Degan, pointed to a state statute that states “any person” who resides in a power district being amended has the right to protest.
He told the board that the attorney for the Central district, David Jarecke, was practicing “jiujitsu” with the clear intent of the statute.
Jarecke argued that the law meant only that residents had a right to argue that they might have legal standing. He warned the Power Review Board about “opening the door” so that any resident of a power district could protest, even the local “mailman.”
Degan contended that’s exactly what the State Legislature intended by the statute: to allow any residents of a power district — even the mailman — to protest a proposed amendment of the district.
“(Jarecke) is wanting you to interpret this statute out of existence,” Degan said. “If my clients don’t have standing, who does?”
The Central and Dawson districts studied a proposed merger for more than two years and, according to Jarecke, held 23 public meetings to take input about the idea.
He said those opposed to the merger, including the 60-member group, Citizens Opposed to the Merger, didn’t attend those meetings until the end.
Richard Waller, one of those formally protesting the consolidation, said Friday that he had attended every meeting.
The Citizens group recently filed a lawsuit to block the merger, saying the board violated public meeting laws in the course of approving it. That group, as well as Waller and his wife and another couple, have formally protested the consolidation to the Power Review Board.
Degan, during Friday’s hearing, said that while Central and Dawson studied the consolidation idea for two years, the studies didn’t adequately address the impact on the irrigators.
Central’s impact on irrigation is much broader than just its surface water customers. Its canals and storage reservoirs have helped create a huge “mound” of underground water in central Nebraska that is tapped by dozens of center-pivot irrigators.
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by Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner
December 16, 2022
by Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner
December 16, 2022
LINCOLN — After a morning-long hearing Friday, irrigators in central Nebraska were granted formal legal standing to protest the proposed “merger” of the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District with the nearby Dawson Power District.
The Nebraska Power Review Board will take testimony Jan. 27 over whether to approve the consolidation, which would involve the dissolution of the Dawson district and its incorporation into a renamed Central district:the Platte Valley Public Power and Irrigation District.
A group of irrigators from Phelps County in the Central district has opposed the move, saying it endangers the delivery of water to them and would saddle Central with debts accumulated by Dawson.
Backers of the merger, which was approved by both the Central and Dawson boards earlier this fall, has touted it as a way to save electric and administrative costs and as a way to capitalize on reliable energy from Central’s smaller hydropower plants.
Central, based in Holdrege, operates four hydropower plants, including one at Lake McConaughy, and maintains a series of canals to supply surface water irrigators. Dawson, based in Lexington, sells power to retail customers, including many irrigators.
The Power Review Board, which reviews projects of public power districts, made the ruling following a nearly three-hour hearing over whether residents of such districts could legally protest such a consolidation.
The hearing, before a standing-room-only audience of irrigators and state power district executives, devolved at times into arguments over the meaning of commas and the legal difference between “or” and “and.”
But a lawyer for the irrigators, Michael Degan, pointed to a state statute that states “any person” who resides in a power district being amended has the right to protest.
He told the board that the attorney for the Central district, David Jarecke, was practicing “jiujitsu” with the clear intent of the statute.
Jarecke argued that the law meant only that residents had a right to argue that they might have legal standing. He warned the Power Review Board about “opening the door” so that any resident of a power district could protest, even the local “mailman.”
Degan contended that’s exactly what the State Legislature intended by the statute: to allow any residents of a power district — even the mailman — to protest a proposed amendment of the district.
“(Jarecke) is wanting you to interpret this statute out of existence,” Degan said. “If my clients don’t have standing, who does?”
The Central and Dawson districts studied a proposed merger for more than two years and, according to Jarecke, held 23 public meetings to take input about the idea.
He said those opposed to the merger, including the 60-member group, Citizens Opposed to the Merger, didn’t attend those meetings until the end.
Richard Waller, one of those formally protesting the consolidation, said Friday that he had attended every meeting.
The Citizens group recently filed a lawsuit to block the merger, saying the board violated public meeting laws in the course of approving it. That group, as well as Waller and his wife and another couple, have formally protested the consolidation to the Power Review Board.
Degan, during Friday’s hearing, said that while Central and Dawson studied the consolidation idea for two years, the studies didn’t adequately address the impact on the irrigators.
Central’s impact on irrigation is much broader than just its surface water customers. Its canals and storage reservoirs have helped create a huge “mound” of underground water in central Nebraska that is tapped by dozens of center-pivot irrigators.
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Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.
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Senior Reporter Paul Hammel has covered the Nebraska Legislature and Nebraska state government for decades. He started his career reporting for the Omaha Sun and later, editing the Papillion Times group in suburban Omaha. He joined the Lincoln Journal-Star as a sports enterprise reporter, and then a roving reporter covering southeast Nebraska. In 1990, he was hired by the Omaha World-Herald as a legislative reporter. Later, for 15 years, he roamed the state covering all kinds of news and feature stories. In the past decade, he served as chief of the Lincoln Bureau and enterprise reporter. Paul has won awards for reporting from Great Plains Journalism, the Associated Press, Nebraska Newspaper Association and Suburban Newspapers of America. A native of Ralston, Nebraska, he is vice president of the John G. Neihardt Foundation, a member of the Nebraska Hop Growers and a volunteer caretaker of Irvingdale Park in Lincoln.
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Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site.
Irrigators granted standing in formal protest over consolidation of … – Nebraska Examiner
