There is a subset of environmental philosophy that concludes we are all a big mistake. Humanity in general, perhaps — our adept intellect, opposable thumbs and initiative have been nothing but trouble for the greater biosphere. But more specifically, those of us who reside in Eastern Washington, who prey on nature for our sustenance, are singled out in occasional spurts of environmental enmity. We benefit from our ancestors’ desire to alter the landscape and the natural flow of resources. We water the once-dry land to grow food for millions of people, and sometimes profit by it. This really bothers some people.

This line of thinking often is professed in subtle ways, and sometimes blatantly, in court. In the latest rendition a trio of environmental groups — the Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Columbia Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club — have informed the Bureau of Reclamation they intend to file legal action to stop construction of a $20 million siphon under Interstate 90. They do this for what it would make possible — producing food with water from the Columbia.

The project in question, funded with federal economic stimulus funds approved recently by Congress, is part of the effort to bring Columbia River water to drying farms in the Odessa Subarea, a wide swath running from east of Moses Lake south to Pasco. The area has been irrigated for 30 years from deep wells, a temporary measure while the second half of the million-acre Columbia Basin Project was built. It has not been, and so the wells get deeper and deeper and the aquifer shallow, until the whole business is in danger of failing. The cost of this failure, according to Washington State University economists, might be 3,600 jobs and $211 million in income.

To solve a small part of the this problem, it has been agreed, by federal agencies and the Washington Legislature, to draw down Lake Roosevelt behind the Grand Coulee Dam by up to a foot or so at times, to provide water for salmon, municipal development, and to water a small part of the Odessa Subarea — about 10,000 acres out of 140,000. The irrigation would require 30,000 acre-feet of Columbia River water. To get that water past a choke point in the East Low Canal, the siphon tube must be built through an I-90 underpass near Warden, parallel to an existing siphon. Thus came stimulus funds. The project is shovel-ready.

The environmentalists say they will sue because the project has not been subjected to adequate scrutiny for its potential to damage salmon. Not so, says the Bureau, which has an environmental impact statement and consultations with the relevant agencies. Moreover, the impact of 30,000 acre-feet would be infinitesimal — the Columbia Basin Project has a water right, granted by Congress, of 3.2 million acre feet, about 3 percent of the flow of the Columbia (Note: the Columbia is really, really big.) Relative to the Columbia the water in question is a few decimal points right of a trickle.

But, say the environmentalists, the siphon has a capacity to carry much more — 202,000 acre-feet for 57,000 acres, which makes it part of the scheme to expand destructive irrigation and food-growing. That’s a potential being subjected to further study, says the Bureau, but in any case the siphon has to be built to match the canal that brings water to it. Adding a 30,000-acre-foot tube to a 202,000-acre-foot input would, in engineering terms, be really stupid.

In the end the environmental groups say this siphon project “does not consider the socio-economic realities of the Columbia Basin Project,” which they see as an energy-eating, subsidized, toxic-spreading disaster.

The socio-economic realities of the Columbia Basin Project include these: $600 million in annual crop sales and 20 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. Power is produced for millions. Water is brought to some of the world’s most productive land, producing sustenance for millions and profits to support tens of thousands of families. This is not a legacy that should make us hang our heads.

Tracy Warner’s column appears Tuesday through Friday. He can be reached at warner@wenworld.com or 665-1163.