A simple task, isn’t

The task should be simple, except the federal government is involved.

And very few matters into which the federal government insinuates itself could reasonably be described as simple.

Baker City’s public works department wants to replace the century-old concrete pipe that brings drinking water from the Elkhorn Mountains to our faucets.

This makes sense, since the pipeline leaks. Not enough to leave our taps dry, but it’s nonetheless wasteful of our most precious commodity.

The pipeline was laid beneath a narrow dirt road. That road follows the route of a ditch that was dug, in the early days of the Civil War, to supply water to nearby mines.

This seems to us a minor matter. The city won’t carve an entirely new swath through the forest or otherwise significantly alter the local geography.

The federal government, however, is not so sure about the minor part.

The city, unfortunately, has to go along with the feds to a certain extent. That’s because, along most of its approximately 17-mile length, the pipeline runs through the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.

But even that fact shouldn’t impede the city’s progress.

Both city and Forest Service officials agree the city has a legal right-of-way for the road.

Trouble is, the Forest Service lacks the authority to tell the city how wide that right-of-way is.

We don’t understand exactly why this is true. Something to do with the vagaries of federal law, apparently. In any case, everyone involved in the pipeline case says it is so.

The width of the right-of-way is vital. If the city has to stray outside that zone while replacing the pipeline — to widen the road to accommodate pipe-hauling trucks, for instance — then the city would have to pay for an environmental study of the possible effects of the work.

That study could cost more than $100,000, and take a year to finish.

The city chose another option, one that’s less expensive but, in our estimation, equally ridiculous.

The city filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service and the BLM (the latter agency manages a small piece of ground along the pipeline).

Although lawsuits tend to be contentious, this one isn’t.

The city just needs to know how wide it’s right-of-way is. The only person who can answer that question, it seems, is a federal judge. And the judge won’t answer unless the city, literally, makes a federal case out of this matter.

The situation frustrates us in large part because there is neither an obvious solution nor a conspicuous villain.

Ultimately the blame lies within the complexities of the federal government, a legal jungle which is very nearly impenetrable.

The bottom line here is that the city should be allowed to dig up an old pipe and put a new one in its place without having to either spend $100,000 for a study, or hire an attorney and file a federal lawsuit.

Of course things could get even sillier.

Imagine if the feds had jurisdiction over our streets. The city might have to hire out an environmental study every time workers fixed a busted sewer main.

Which is another situation that smells bad.