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TID settlement will help finance habitat restoration By JILL BRISKEY Mail Tribune Five years after a pesticide released by the Talent Irrigation District killed thousands of fish in Bear Creek, a settlement has finally been reached. During a conference with U.S. Magistrate Thomas Coffin, TID came to an agreement regarding a 1998 lawsuit brought by Ashland-based Headwaters and the Oregon Natural Resources Council. "It was the best agreement that we could reach given all the conditions and all the situations that exist within the legal system," said Roger Butterfield, who serves as president of the board for Headwaters. "What it will do is it will establish accountability for those people, not only here in the Rogue Valley and TID users, but it will establish accountability literally across the nation." On Wednesday, TID announced it will pay $100,000 in lieu of attorney fees and court-related costs. TID also agreed to pay another $100,000 in installments over the next four years to pay for independent monitoring of herbicide in its canal system and finance habitat restoration projects. Those projects will be jointly approved by Headwaters and TID. Although Headwaters will not receive any of the funds, the organization will participate in the planning and management of the projects. As part of the settlement, TID also said it would not apply chemicals to its irrigation canals without first obtaining proper permits or complying with all applicable Clean Water Act requirements. Charlie Tebbutt, an attorney with Western Environmental Law Center in Eugene, said negotiations began in October. "It's a settlement that will move the process forward and help resolve an issue that has been causing serious problems in the community for decades," Tebbutt said. "It's been a long battle." The lawsuit sought penalties and injunctive relief for TID's use of Acrolein - a chemical used to control weeds in ditches - without a permit from the Clean Air Act. In 1996, acrolein-treated water flowed out of the TID canal through an open water gate and polluted a section of Bear Creek in Ashland. State biologists believe the spill killed 92,000 infant salmon and steelhead. Three state agencies, including the Department of Environmental Quality, levied more than $400,000 in fines and reimbursements against TID for the spill. Earlier this year, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that private parties must first obtain federal permits before discharging pollutants into public waterways. That decision reversed an earlier U.S. District Court ruling and held irrigation districts to the standards of the 1997 Clean Water Act. Attempts to contact Ron Meyers, a TID board member and only designated spokesman, were unsuccessful Wednesday. However, TID rates aren't expected to rise in the next year as a result of the settlement, according to a press release. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.