I received some criticism of my recent post stating that we need a binding guarantee from Central Oregon Irrigation District and North Unit Irrigation District that they will return conserved water to the Deschutes River in exchange for the $356M of mostly taxpayer money they want to spend to pipe the Pilot Butte Canal. “Trump would never suspend the Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan.” Well, it just happened in the Gulf of Mexico. Clearly, oil drilling is a high priority for the current administration, but this is just the latest attack on the Endangered Species Act which is the foundation of the DBHCP.