Ann Bleed departs abruptly from Gov. Heineman's administration

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By ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star

When it’s announced that you’re retiring “effective immediately” and when it comes as a surprise to your friends, there’s sometimes reason to wonder what really happened.

It wasn’t easy to verify that Ann Bleed was stepping down entirely voluntarily Monday as director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources because Bleed declined comment.

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Ann Bleed

Ann Bleed

But in a letter sent Monday to Gov. Dave Heineman, she said “it has become clear to me that you and I disagree on a number of significant issues. Without a mutual agreement,” she added, “I cannot serve you or the state effectively.”

A spokeswoman for the governor insisted later in the day that there was no mystery to solve about the abrupt end of a Heineman appointment that took effect little more than a year ago.

“No, the governor did not ask Ann Bleed to step down,” Jen Hein said.

Bleed, 66, emerged from her office later in the day and sank into a nearby chair. She mostly smiled and shook her head in responding to a series of predictable questions. There was a slight departure from that pattern when she was asked what she’s going to do next after 20 years in the department which she began as state hydrologist.

“I can honestly tell you that I haven’t made any decisions,” Bleed said.

Did she have any comment on the circumstances of her sudden departure?

“Nothing that’s not in the press release from the governor’s office,” Bleed said.

The governor praised Bleed as “not only an intelligent and capable engineer, but also a good director who understands the science of water administration and water use, and the people who play a central role in these issues.”

In the same joint message distributed to the news media, Bleed saluted her staff. She also said “working with Nebraskans across the state was very rewarding, and I will remember the people I worked with very fondly.”

Those who keep an eye on state water policy say the challenges that go with Bleed’s job have grown substantially in the last decade.

Drought, a battle with Kansas over Republican River issues, and the push for more irrigation development in the nation’s leading groundwater-irrigating state are often mentioned as among the biggest challenges.

That leaves Mike Jess and Dave Aiken wondering if they’re getting the whole story.

Jess, Bleed’s former boss and now part of the leadership at the University of Nebraska’s Water Center, said he was caught by surprise.

“We talk from time to time,” he said, “and I’ve not sensed from her comments that she anticipated this. And I guess I’ve not sensed —I don’t recall her talking about a plan or intention to retire at this point in time.”

Jess pointed to “certainly, the large numbers of people around the state that have been dissatisfied and openly saying that” in reacting to state water affairs.

Aiken, a water law specialist at UNL, described a situation in which he thinks the state will either need to force irrigators in the Republican River Valley to cut back drastically on water use or pay them to do so.

That’s his forecast at a time when Kansas claims to be moving quickly toward a courtroom to get its share of Republican water.

“She’s clearly in between a rock and a hard spot,” Aiken said of Bleed. “And she’s in that position because of either political stalemate or political inaction ... Ultimately, the buck stops with her as far as Kansas is concerned — and everything else.”

Jay Rempe of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation and Dean Edson of the Nebraska Association of Resource Districts are among others who keep a close eye on the twists and turns of water development issues.

Those organizations could also be expected to gain an audience with the governor if they’re less than satisfied with what they see. But there was no hint of behind-the-scenes maneuvering in their remarks Monday.

“I just wish her the best in retirement,” said Edson, who represents the state’s 23 natural resources districts. “I’ve worked with her quite a bit over the years and we had a good working relationship with her ... We’ve had some differences, but that’s the way it goes at times.”

Many of those differences came to light as Bleed carried forward with a 2004 law that gave her the authority to declare the state’s river basins fully-appropriated or over-appropriated. That legislation has led to moratoriums on new irrigation wells and other conservation measures in much of central and western Nebraska.

Rempe acknowledged turbulent times, but said he was also surprised at Bleed’s leave-taking.

“It’s definitely not an easy time to be the director, that’s for sure,” he said.

Don Blankenau, deputy director of what was then known as the Department of Water Resources in the mid-1990s, agreed that Bleed faced more and more complications in trying to do her job.

But Blankenau, now a water attorney in Lincoln, also said the state has begun working under much more stringent water rules in recent years in terms of ground-water pumping affecting the flow in rivers and streams.

The flash point for dissent among many water users is the so-called “10-50 rule” put in place by Bleed’s predecessor, Roger Patterson. It sets the boundaries for irrigation wells that need stiffer regulation at the point where they are deemed likely to diminish surface flows by 10 percent over 50 years of groundwater pumping.

Many water users favored a higher percentage.

“Most states do not regulate to that distance or with that same methodology,” Blankenau said.

Reach Art Hovey at 473-7223 or at ahovey@journalstar.com.