Schoesler receives award from the League

State Senator Mark Schoesler and Representative Judy Warnick were awarded Honorary Life Memberships by the Columbia Basin Development League during their Conference and Annual Meeting held in Moses Lake last month.

Clark Kagele, a League board member said that, “Legislators from the 9th and 13th Districts provided the leadership to get the job done and worked to secure the largest state investment ever in Project infrastructure. Schoesler, the Senate Republican Leader and Warnick, the then Ranking Republican on the House Capital Budget Committee made sure the job got done and assured that this lifetime infrastructure would underpin the economy for decades to come.”

The last major contribution to the Columbia Basin Project was in 1975 when the Washington Legislature voted to fund a third of the cost of the second Bacon siphon and tunnel, which was the first step to fully complete the Project. Since Congress created the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 1902, it has been building infrastructure to support economic development.

The League has awarded Honorary Life Memberships since 1964, the same year the League was founded. Honorary Life Members are chosen for their long-time association with and demonstrated support of the Project and its future development with tireless and significant dedication.

The mission of the Columbia Basin Development League is to support the Columbia Basin Project and its future development through orderly extension of irrigation infrastructure to eligible lands with recent focus to prevent economic and environmental disaster by replacing Odessa Aquifer groundwater withdrawals with Project water.