Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
November 10, 2008
1. Top Items -
Deal reached on
Associated Press
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Deal reached on
Associated Press – 11/12/08
By Garance Burke, AP
FRESNO – Congress is on track to sign off on a deal to restore California's San Joaquin River, bringing water and salmon back to a now-dry stretch of the waterway that once nourished the state's farm fields, Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Tuesday.
Federal legislation needed to implement a legal settlement for the restoration has been hung up for two years by concerns from various parties.
Feinstein told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she had brokered a final agreement with all the parties – including environmental and fishing groups, farmers, irrigation districts and federal agencies – that could get lawmakers' approval during a lame-duck session of Congress expected to begin next week.
“I think everybody realizes that this has been an 18-year fight,” Feinstein said. “Now that everybody's on the same page, my view is that we should pass this bill, as it is, as early as we can.”
The legislation would implement a settlement that would return water to a dry 60-mile stretch of the
The San Joaquin is
Under the 2006 settlement, the Friant Water Users Authority, which represents 21 irrigation districts that distribute river water to thousands of farms, agreed to relinquish a set portion of their traditional water supplies to help restore the fish.
Friant officials viewed that as preferable to letting a judge rule how much water should be released down the old river bed.
Negotiators said the new agreement also resolves the concerns of land owners downstream from the dam, who wanted assurances that their farms wouldn't be flooded or otherwise harmed by the new water releases.
“This process has not been easy, but the future of
Various disputes erupted that stalled a final deal, including how to satisfy congressional “pay as you go” rules that require a loss to the U.S. Treasury to be offset by other income.
The total cost of the bill has been disputed, but plaintiffs with the Natural Resources Defense Council estimate it at between $250 million to $800 million.
Under the deal Feinstein announced Tuesday, Friant water districts will over the next 10 years pay back about $200 million they owe the federal government for building the pumps, reservoirs and canals attached to the Central Valley Project, plus $100 million for restoration efforts.
The state has committed an additional $200 million in bond revenue, bringing the total restoration funding for the next decade to about $500 million, said attorney Hal Candee, lead negotiator for the NRDC.
“This is the last piece that was needed in order to fully implement this historic accord,” said Ron Jacobsma, general manager with the Friant Water Users Authority. “This will help set the stage to overcome protracted litigation and uncertainty in resolving other environmental and water supply issues in the West.”
Feinstein said she hopes to get the deal through Congress during its lame-duck session as part of a larger package of public lands bills currently pending in the Senate, but it still would have to pass the House before going to President Bush for his signature.
If that doesn't work, the bill would need to be reintroduced next year, when Congress reconvenes in January under an Obama administration.#
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20081111-1434-ca-sanjoaquinsuit.html
By Michael Doyle / Bee
Seemingly endless rounds of negotiations were capped this week when negotiators resolved the lingering concerns of Los Banos area farmers on the San Joaquin Valley's west side.
This isn't the first time negotiators have congratulated themselves, but the latest Capitol Hill progress sounds final.
"I think it should satisfy all concerned," Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Tuesday. "As far as I'm concerned, this is it."
The negotiations answered the lingering concerns of the "exchange contractors," who are Los Banos-area farmers irrigating about 200,000 acres on the
With these farmers mollified about future water supplies, the stage is set for the river restoration bill to be passed as part of an omnibus public lands package.
The public lands bill contains upward of 140 separate parks, wilderness and environmental provisions. Feinstein said "the odds are even" the Senate will take up the package during a brief lame-duck session next week; if it doesn't, Congress will consider the legislation next year.
"I think this thing is ready to go," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, said Tuesday.
Feinstein is the chief Senate author of the river restoration bill, first introduced two years ago in considerably different form.
Radanovich has joined Reps. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, in pushing for the bill as well.
The river legislation has stalled since 2006, in part over questions of how to pay for it.
The original bill had a federal price tag of $250 million or more. It also alarmed some farmers who worry that restoring water flows and salmon populations to the
The alarm remains in some farm circles, as Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, has been fighting a rear-guard action against a bill backed by the Bush administration, the state of
The river rescue deal is supposed to settle a 20-year-old lawsuit filed by environmentalists unhappy over the decline of the once-teeming waterway.
Facing tough budget questions, Feinstein rewrote the $250 million river bill so that it provides only $88 million in guaranteed funding. The rest of the federal funds needed must be sought in future years, though Feinstein maintains the $88 million understates how much funding is likely.
The budget maneuver satisfied the congressional pay-as-you-go requirement that all spending be offset. However, it worried the Firebaugh Canal Water District, San Luis Canal Co. and other exchange contractors, which feared they might be shortchanged.
The modified bill is supposed to give high priority to exchange contractor projects, such as installing fish screens or fish bypass facilities along the
The final revisions, agreed to late Monday night, are meant to ensure future irrigation deliveries with language stating that the river restoration plan will not modify the exchange contractors' existing federal contracts. The exchange contractors insisted on the language, though some lawmakers thought it unnecessary. #
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1005625.html
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