[env-trinity] Feinstein's CalFed Bill

[Byron Leydecker]

Feinstein did NOT include a provision for the Trinity.  The California
delegation has been divided on this legislation and similar legislation of
hers for the past several years.  No bill has come out of the Congress, nor
has the program been funded by the federal government for the past few
years.  From the point of view of Trinity interests, there is nothing to
commend the bill - quite the reverse.  If anyone wants a copy of the bill,
let me know.  I can send it to you in pdf format.

Shrunken Cal-Fed bill might have a chance
Sacramento Bee - 4/15/04
By Michael Doyle, staff writer
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein has prepared a bite-sized version of a
once-sprawling California water bill in hopes it can be more easily digested
on Capitol Hill.

Today, in a San Francisco meeting, Feinstein and her allies will learn if
they've gone far enough by cutting the bill's cost by more than half.

"I actually think we have the only bill that can get through the Senate
now," Feinstein, D-Calif., said Wednesday. "I think it's fair to say this is
the last chance for a bill (this year)."

After months of behind-the-scenes work, Feinstein has crafted a $389 million
version of legislation to authorize the so-called Cal-Fed water program. It
includes restoring San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
habitat and studying new reservoirs along the upper San Joaquin River and in
the Sacramento Valley.

The proposal has shrunk from the $880 million California water package
Feinstein introduced last May, and the $2.4 billion bill Feinstein tried
moving two years ago.

Lawmakers had continued to choke on the past offerings, citing both cost and
seemingly unrelated labor provisions. Now, though some disputes remain,
Feinstein hopes she can move her bill in the next two weeks.

"The money should be sufficient to meet the program needs," Feinstein said.

Feinstein described her meeting today, with representatives of farm and
environmental groups among others, as a chance to build a "united front."
Her chief of staff previously met with labor leaders to ensure that the
proposal and its treatment of prevailing-wage requirements set by the
federal Davis-Bacon Act, would not incite overt opposition.

"I give Sen. Feinstein a lot of credit for taking another whack at Cal-Fed,"
said Environmental Defense attorney Tom Graff, who has been critical of past
federal water projects. "There's little glory for a California senator in
trying to make something happen on (it), given the mess that the Clinton and
Davis administrations handed off to their successors."

The Interior Department also helped jump-start the latest negotiations, with
top federal water officials getting directly involved after a long period of
relative passivity. The bill's changes are both temporal and concrete.

The bill now covers six years, for instance, instead of the previous four.
Its cost is markedly lower because it's dealing with many projects that have
already gotten a congressional go-ahead. It also sidesteps the recurring
Davis-Bacon wage conflict. Feinstein now contends that spelling out the
prevailing-wage guarantees - anathema to congressional conservatives but
heretofore essential to organized labor - is not necessary given existing
authorizations for the California water projects.

Graff cautioned, though, that "threading the needle with a Cal-Fed bill, in
the absence of consensus among the California water interests or strong
leadership from Sacramento, is likely to be near impossible."

Northern California Indian tribes, for example, worry about the future of
Trinity River water.

Another political variable is the relationship between the California water
bill and the priorities of other Western senators.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., is championing an Indian water-rights settlement in
his state costing hundreds of millions of dollars, while Sen. Pete Domenici,
R-N.M., is pushing his own bundle of Western water projects.

Feinstein said she would be "surprised" if the California bill doesn't
eventually get wedded to other Western water legislation.

With Congress squeezed by an election-year calendar, the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee could take up the legislation as early as April
28. A House bill written by Riverside Republican Ken Calvert, with a price
tag that still exceeds $880 million, could then be on track for House
Resources Committee approval on May 5.

"They're making very positive changes," House Resources Committee spokesman
Brian Kennedy said of the Senate bill.

House and Senate negotiators would still have to work out their differences
in a conference. Some differences are pretty big. The House bill, for
instance, includes a $100 million grant program that Feinstein's does not.
The House bill also includes controversial language that streamlines the
process for actually constructing new dams.


Byron Leydecker
Chairman, Friends of Trinity River
Consultant, California Trout, Inc,
PO Box 2327
Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327
415 383 4810 ph
415 519 4810 cell
415 383 9562 fx
bwl3 at comcast.net
bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org (secondary)
http://www.fotr.org
http://www.caltrout.org

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