[env-trinity] AP San Joaquin Legislation

[Byron]

SAN JOAQUIN RIVER RESTORATION:

Water authority vote supports San Joaquin River restoration

Associated Press - 3/14/08

By Aaron C. Davis, staff writer

 

SACRAMENTO-A sweeping settlement to restore salmon to the San Joaquin River
took a step forward Friday. 

 

The Friant Water Users Authority, a powerful band of Central Valley water
districts that represents farmers, voted to support changes to the
legislation needed to begin the restoration. 

 

Supporters say they hope the action adds urgency to the issue in Congress,
where bills are pending but Republicans and Democrats disagree over how to
pay for the effort. 

 

Under a legal settlement for the restoration reached in 2006, water is
supposed to be returned to a dry 60-mile stretch of the San Joaquin River by
2009. Chinook salmon are to be returned no later than Dec. 31, 2012. 

 

The Friant authority would agree to relinquish a set portion of its
traditional water use. Its board has viewed that arrangement as preferable
to having a judge establish the water flows. 

 

The deal capped an 18-year legal battle over how much water should be
released from Friant Dam, outside Fresno. 

 

Completion of the federal dam in 1949 dried up portions of the river below
where salmon once ran thick. 

 

"It's not that any of us think this settlement is a perfect solution," said
Ronald Jacobsma, Friant's general manager.

 

"However, our boards concluded two years ago and continue to believe today
that water supply and cost certainty provided by the settlement are a much
better business decision for everyone in the valley than leaving it up to a
federal judge to decide how much water should be released for salmon." 

 

Last week, farmers in the Madera Irrigation District took steps to back out
of the restoration plan, saying it would cause them to lose too much
valuable irrigation water. But they also recommitted to the plan this week. 

 

U.S. Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, said he would work to move the
settlement through Congress "without tax increases, and finally put this
issue to rest and allow the community to come together." 

 

Scott Gerber, a spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, called the Friday
announcement good news. 

 

"It reaffirms that Friant, along with environmentalists, are still prepared
to go forward in a meaningful way," he said. 

 

"There are other issues, and we are trying to work through those." 

 

Among the most problematic of those outstanding issues is getting money for
the river's restoration. 

 

The total cost could range from $250 million to $800 million, according to
estimates by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which brought the
original lawsuit that forced the settlement. Some $200 million would come
from state bond money, with much of the rest from irrigation districts. 

 

Federal approval is necessary because water fees that now go into the
federal treasury would be diverted to the settlement, something requiring
congressional signoff. 

 

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that fee diversion as a $170
million loss to the U.S. Treasury. Under congressional "pay as you go"
rules, that loss must be offset by other income.

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Friends of Trinity River, Chair

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810

415 519 4810 cell

415 383 9562 fax

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org (secondary)

http://www.fotr.org

 

 

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