Batting Cleanup
According to a federal audit released yesterday, efforts to clean up the contaminated groundwater around the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southern Washington state have basically sucked -- "largely ineffective" was the report's more delicate phrase.

Idaho denies water rights request for power plants
Two large electricity plants proposed for the Washington-Idaho border should be denied water rights for cooling, an Idaho state official has ruled.

Washington Sends Mixed Messages To Methow Water Users
Just when the region thought an agreement had finally been reached between a small group of eastern Washington water users and state, federal and tribal parties over longstanding issues in the Methow Valley, Washington's Department of Ecology has refused to pull in its horns over a notice of violation it issued to the small irrigation district at the center of the controversy. Instead, the state agency has decided to stick by its order requiring the district to cut its water withdrawals by nearly 50 percent.