[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 6/20/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

June 20, 2007

 

1.  Top Item -

 

 

River deal hits a crosscurrent

Texan in House may try to block funds to restore San Joaquin.

Sacramento Bee – 6/20/07

By Michael Doyle - Bee Washington Bureau

 

WASHINGTON -- Congressional budget hawks are maneuvering to block an ambitious San Joaquin River restoration deal.  Or, at least, fire a warning shot.

 

Today, a Texas Republican is threatening to offer an amendment cutting off federal funds for the proposed river restoration. If approved, it would be a major blow to a river plan with a federal price tag currently estimated to be half a billion dollars.

 

"It's basically a killer amendment," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, said Tuesday. "It would kill the bill."

But skeptics of the San Joaquin River restoration plan say the amendment cutting off funding sends an important signal.

 

"It just shows there are major problems with this settlement," Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, said Tuesday.

 

Though they are neighbors and fellow Republicans, Radanovich and Nunes vehemently disagree over the San Joaquin River. Throughout Tuesday, they and their respective allies and surrogates were wrangling for advantage on and off the House floor.

 

Radanovich supports plans to restore water flows below Friant Dam, so that salmon can be reintroduced into the San Joaquin River before 2014. State and federal money is needed to prepare the exhausted river channel, build levees and make other improvements.

 

Nunes opposes the current restoration plans, which would cut irrigation supplies to farmers on the San Joaquin Valley's west side by an estimated 19 percent annually. He is the only San Joaquin Valley lawmaker to publicly oppose river restoration legislation.

 

The legislation is backed by the Bush administration, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and numerous water districts and environmental groups.

 

The latest flare-up in the running dispute comes to a head sometime today, when Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, could bring his amendment up for debate. It may prove mostly symbolic. Gohmert could still withdraw his amendment. Or, lawmakers may simply debate the issue and then avoid a formal vote.

 

Just by introducing it, though, Gohmert showed how San Joaquin River restoration questions now extend beyond California's borders. He also showed how intense the river maneuvering has become. Throughout the day, including in e-mails sent around Capitol Hill, Valley congressional staffers insisted the Texan had introduced the amendment on behalf of another, hidden, lawmaker.

 

Gohmert's spokeswoman said Tuesday night the congressman was still contemplating whether to introduce the bill but declined to comment further. Nunes said he did not know the amendment was being introduced until he saw it Tuesday.

 

"Members have asked me about this issue on numerous occasions," Nunes added.

 

Budget impediments have so far stalled the river legislation introduced in January by Radanovich in the House and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the Senate.

A Congressional Budget Office study predicts the San Joaquin River restoration bill would cost the federal government about $430 million over 10 years, and $500 million by the year 2026. Backers of the river legislation must offset some of this, to meet House budget rules.

 

Proposals have been floated to raise revenues from oil and gas producers, and to find ways to shave the public price tag. Officials still haven't nailed down precisely how to offset the river restoration costs. Until they do, the bill won't move.

 

"They're 99 percent of the way there," Radanovich said.

 

Gohmert is a vocal member of the Republican Study Conference, which describes itself as "a group of over 110 House Republicans organized for the purpose of advancing a conservative social and economic agenda." His amendment blocking spending on the San Joaquin River settlement was authored for potential inclusion in an energy and water funding bill being debated this week.#

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/231625.html