[env-trinity] CALFED Bill Passes Congress, sends to President

[Tom Stokely]

It is my understanding that most environmental, conservation and fishery groups opposed this legislation as "unbalanced."  The claims that this is a consensus bill with environmental interests on board is a farce.  

TS

House passes $395 million CalFed bill, sends it to president

Associated Press - 10/6/04
By Erica Werner, staff writer

WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives passed a sweeping $395 million California water bill Wednesday, sending the milestone legislation to the president after a decade of dispute.
The bill to authorize the California Federal Bay-Delta Program, better known as CalFed, aims to restore California's fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and ensure a reliable water supply for millions of users. It represents the first major changes to California's water systems since the 1960s.

"This historic bill is a giant step forward in resolving California's water supply problems," said House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Tracy.

"When it comes to water, nothing is easy. Everything is hard," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who worked with Pombo to champion the legislation.

The bill passed on a voice vote and President Bush is expected to sign it soon.

The CalFed legislation seeks to satisfy often-warring groups of farmers, environmentalists and residential users with provisions on storage, restoration and recycling.

It authorizes feasibility studies for several major new storage projects and includes $90 million for reconstructing levees. It contains ecosystem restoration projects, provisions to expedite approval of 49 recycling projects and an Environmental Water Account to ensure water for fisheries. Water flows to thirsty Southern California are increased, and the bill requires a federal feasibility study on restoring California's largest lake, the Salton Sea, which is suffering from increasing salinity.

The House approval came after Pombo and other House members decided they could accept the version of the bill passed by the Senate last month. The bill leaves out so-called pre-authorization language that would have allowed the secretary of the Interior to approve four specific water storage projects without congressional sign-off - enlarging Los Vaqueros reservoir in Contra Costa County, raising the Shasta Dam, surface storage on the Upper San Joaquin, and the Sites reservoir in the Antelope Valley.

Some California House Republicans believed the pre-authorization language was necessary to guarantee needed storage projects would get built, but key Senate leaders opposed it. In the end Pombo and other House members were satisfied with language in the Senate bill that pressures Congress to act quickly on the projects once feasibility studies have been conducted.

If Congress doesn't act, the Interior secretary would have to declare the CalFed program "out of balance" and recommend ways to regain balance between environmental and storage measures.

The bill "creates storage as the linchpin for implementation of all CalFed elements," Pombo said. "This bill ensures that the program will be carried out in balance with new water storage or else the program will simply not exist."

Lawmakers also got a commitment from Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, Republican chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, that he would try to include $11 million for the feasibility studies in a spending bill for the 2005 fiscal year. The studies for the four storage projects have an overall pricetag of about $50 million, of which the federal share is about $28.5 million.

Environmental groups have expressed fears that streamlining storage projects would override concerns about the effect on the environment, and have favored more conservation programs instead.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pressed lawmakers to get the legislation passed. He and Pombo spoke Tuesday night, and Schwarzenegger faxed Pombo a letter assuring him that the state would come up with its share of funding for the feasibility studies.

"Every aspect of our golden state - the people, the environment, agriculture and industry - benefits from this balanced legislation," the governor said in a statement Wednesday.

Congressional appropriators would have to determine exact funding levels for projects in the bill later. But without the authorization bill, no money could be appropriated. The bill spans six years, through 2010.

The CalFed program, a state-federal effort, has been in the works for a decade. The current effort stems from a 2000 agreement, reached after years of negotiations, on a package of projects to ensure water for different groups of users.#
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