[env-trinity] CalFed

[Byron]

Cal-Fed bill does not ease all water concerns
Capital Press - 11/5/04
By Chip Power, staff writer

FRESNO - A massive cash infusion to help the ailing San Francisco Bay Delta
has not created Walden Pond-like ripples of ease and well-being.

The delta provides irrigation water for the San Joaquin Valley, one of the
most intensively farmed agricultural regions, and is the source of drinking
water for more than 20 million Californians in addition to providing an
ecosystem for salmon.

The Cal-Fed bill includes $90 million for pre-authorized levees and levee
stability projects; more than $180 million for pre-authorized water quality
improvement projects throughout California, including drinking water; and
$90 million for fish and wildlife enhancements.

Signed into law late last month, it also establishes a "trigger" mechanism
for the implementation of storage projects. Once a project feasibility study
is completed, Congress must authorize the project. If it does not, the
secretary of the Interior Department must declare an "imbalance" in the
Cal-Fed program and prescribe what must be done to restore balance.

"By moving from an endless state of planning and paralysis by analysis into
the stages of implementation, this law will finally deliver the resources we
need for our economy and our environment," said House Resources Committee
Chairman Richard W. Pombo, R-Tracy.

"We will enhance Delta water quality, improve delivery and secure future
supplies of water - the lifeblood of California's agricultural economy," he
said.

Cal-Fed will help fuel California's economy, according to the California
Farm Water Coalition. The Golden State's agricultural exports are valued at
nearly $7 billion. Each $1 billion in agricultural exports creates 27,000
jobs, the trade group estimates.

The coalition also broadly supports the addition of new reservoir capacity
to serve urban and agricultural users.

Environmental groups are wasting no time restating their opposition to new
dams, at least ones whose costs would be borne by taxpayers and not
beneficiaries.
The National Resources Defense Council, often at odds over farm water groups
over the consequences of irrigation projects, last week said it wanted to
undo certain agreements between regulators and water users, complaining that
they were "back room deals" not debated in the sunshine.

The council stated that some changes outlined in an obscure state-federal
document called the Operations Criteria and Plan foreshadow big changes in
how water is pumped and allocated as part of the Cal-Fed system.

Under the plan, according to the San Francisco-based group, water
contractors would increase pumping from the delta by 27 percent, sending
more to Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. Less water would
flow to the San Francisco Bay and less would be reserved for endangered
salmon during droughts. 

Meantime, nearly all of the Central Valley Project water contracts have
expired. The federal Bureau of Reclamation has said they are being renewed
legally and with public input. Critics contend that the Bureau of
Reclamation is proposing to renew the water contracts without needed
reforms, which weakens the effectiveness of Cal-Fed.

Historically, ag-related groups have complained that Cal-Fed has an inherent
bias against industry in favor of the environment. Agriculture's detractors
argue the opposite - that irrigators get their way without any regard for
long-term environmental consequences

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

Consultant, California Trout, Inc.

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 ph

415 519 4810 ce

415 383 9562 fx

bwl3 at comcast.net

 <mailto:bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org> bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org
(secondary)

http://www.fotr.org

http://www.caltrout.org

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20041108/b8c118ff/attachment.html>