Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
April 1, 2009
1. Top Item –
Congressmen want more water for California farmers
The Associated Press – 3/31/09
By Kevin Freking
The lawmakers said efforts to protect a 3-inch-long fish, the delta smelt, have led to court-ordered reductions in the amount of water pumped to some farmers in the
They said even as a drought enters its third year, there is enough water in
In 2007, a federal judge ordered federal and state water authorities to reduce the amount of water they pump through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in a bid to protect the delta smelt. The finger-length fish is considered a bellwether for the health of the delta, the heart of
Speaking before the House Natural Resources Committee, several of the state's lawmakers discounted the drought as the reason for the
Rather, they said it was a matter of priorities, with the government valuing fish over families.
Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater, said thousands of families were moving out of his district. He called the exodus the "Dust Bowl migration in reverse."
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, said the unemployment rate in his district is nearly 20 percent and is nearing 50 percent in some communities.
"We're not asking for a billion-dollar bailout. We're aren't even asking for one single dollar," Nunes said. "All we need is for this committee to move emergency legislation which would allow the delta pumps to return to historic export levels."
Without such action, the economic devastation will only grow worse, he said.
Experts say the water shortage in
The state has said it will deliver only 20 percent of the water typically allocated for cities and farms this year. The federal Bureau of Reclamation, which operates a separate system to deliver water to farmers, has said it will not deliver any water this spring to farms south of the delta. Farmers north of the delta can expect to get just 5 percent of their contracted amount.
The shortage could force farmers to idle more than 300,000 acres, leading to a loss of about 37,000 jobs. The delta also feeds drinking water to some 25 million Californians, stretching from the
Nunes, in pointed comments to the House committee, described the plight of his constituents in the most dire terms. He said the committee has been silent on the issue for two years.
"Failure to act, and it's over," he said. "You will witness the collapse of modern civilization in the
With that, he offered to submit a fishbowl filled with nine minnows for the Congressional Record. The fish were rainbow smelt, not the endangered delta smelt, which are illegal to possess without a permit.
Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Norwalk, responded by asking him to take the plastic wrap off the bowl so the fish could get some air, which Nunes did. Napolitano served as chairwoman for Tuesday's hearing.
The hearing was designed to address the various steps the federal and state governments were taking to address
Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, said some of the lawmakers were "cherry picking history" and ignoring that water has been pumped into the valley at rates that exceeded what was appropriate.
That's one of the reasons the judge ordered state and federal wildlife agencies to revise how much water should be pumped out of the delta. Most of the pumping occurs from late spring through summer.
"The judge had no choice because the system was run right down to the margins where in fact he did kick in the protections of the Endangered Species Act," Miller said.
Doug Obegi, staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, agreed the water shortage is in some respects man-made, but he said it's because
He said his organization opposes making exceptions to the Endangered Species Act.
"There are solutions that comply with existing law that protect endangered species and people," Obegi said. "We can do this without eviscerating protections for salmon, delta smelt and killer whales, all of which depend on a healthy delta." #
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1298951.html
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