Johnson: Pipeline is my fight

2007-10-12

Source: Sioux Falls Argus Leader

Last Dec. 13, Lewis & Clark Regional Water officials were meeting with Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., on the project when they learned Sen. Tim Johnson had suffered a brain hemorrhage.

On Thursday, Johnson, South Dakota's senior senator, rolled into the Lewis & Clark conference room in a wheelchair, and with his speech still affected by the brain injury, he assured Lewis & Clark representatives that he is back in position to help the huge water development plan regain momentum on federal funding.

Lewis & Clark needs $35 million in federal construction money annually to remain on track to deliver water from the Missouri River to more than 200,000 people in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa by 2019. From a low of $17.5 million in 2006, the federal appropriation crept up to $21 million this year, and in the 2008 Senate budget, it is in line for $28 million. The House, however, sets Lewis & Clark funding at only $22.3 million.

"I will be on the conference committee" that will reconcile the House and Senate budgets, "and much less than $28 million is not acceptable," Johnson said firmly as Lewis & Clark directors applauded.

Johnson, a second-term Democrat, also opened the session by apologizing for his ongoing speaking difficulties, which occasionally slow his speech as he searches for a word. He said physicians tell him he eventually will recover the ability to match words to the speed of his thinking. But Lewis & Clark Executive Director Troy Larson told him, "There is no need to apologize." As an advocate of rural water projects, "your actions speak louder than words."

Larson told Johnson that 56 miles of the major water delivery line already have been put in the ground, and an additional 23 miles are under construction, leaving 11 miles of the trunk line yet to be funded. The Lewis & Clark officials also laid out for Johnson their current dilemma after bids for a water treatment plant they expected to come in at about $108 million instead ranged from $142.4 million to $167.6 million.

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