[env-trinity] San Joaquin River Restoration

[Byron Leydecker]

Deal reached on San Joaquin River legislation

Associated Press - 11/12/08

By Garance Burke, AP

 

FRESNO - Congress is on track to sign off on a deal to restore California's
San Joaquin River, bringing water and salmon back to a now-dry stretch of
the waterway that once nourished the state's farm fields, Sen. Dianne
Feinstein said Tuesday. 

Federal legislation needed to implement a legal settlement for the
restoration has been hung up for two years by concerns from various parties.

Feinstein told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she had brokered a final
agreement with all the parties - including environmental and fishing groups,
farmers, irrigation districts and federal agencies - that could get
lawmakers' approval during a lame-duck session of Congress expected to begin
next week. 

"I think everybody realizes that this has been an 18-year fight," Feinstein
said. "Now that everybody's on the same page, my view is that we should pass
this bill, as it is, as early as we can." 

The legislation would implement a settlement that would return water to a
dry 60-mile stretch of the San Joaquin River by 2009 and bring back Chinook
salmon no later than Dec. 31, 2012. 

The San Joaquin is California's second-longest river. The lawsuit stems from
the opening of Friant Dam in 1949, which transformed the San Joaquin
Valley's main artery from a river thick with salmon into an irrigation
powerhouse for more than a million acres of farmland. 

Under the 2006 settlement, the Friant Water Users Authority, which
represents 21 irrigation districts that distribute river water to thousands
of farms, agreed to relinquish a set portion of their traditional water
supplies to help restore the fish. 

Friant officials viewed that as preferable to letting a judge rule how much
water should be released down the old river bed. California farmers are
already facing cutbacks in water supplies following two years of dry
weather. 

Negotiators said the new agreement also resolves the concerns of land owners
downstream from the dam, who wanted assurances that their farms wouldn't be
flooded or otherwise harmed by the new water releases. 

"This process has not been easy, but the future of California agriculture
rests on our ability to find solutions," said Rep. George Radanovich,
R-Mariposa, who represents areas of the San Joaquin Valley affected by the
legislation. "We cannot afford to do nothing and allow the courts to be
river masters."

Various disputes erupted that stalled a final deal, including how to satisfy
congressional "pay as you go" rules that require a loss to the U.S. Treasury
to be offset by other income. 

The total cost of the bill has been disputed, but plaintiffs with the
Natural Resources Defense Council estimate it at between $250 million to
$800 million. 

Under the deal Feinstein announced Tuesday, Friant water districts will over
the next 10 years pay back about $200 million they owe the federal
government for building the pumps, reservoirs and canals attached to the
Central Valley Project, plus $100 million for restoration efforts. 

The state has committed an additional $200 million in bond revenue, bringing
the total restoration funding for the next decade to about $500 million,
said attorney Hal Candee, lead negotiator for the NRDC. 

"This is the last piece that was needed in order to fully implement this
historic accord," said Ron Jacobsma, general manager with the Friant Water
Users Authority. "This will help set the stage to overcome protracted
litigation and uncertainty in resolving other environmental and water supply
issues in the West." 

Feinstein said she hopes to get the deal through Congress during its
lame-duck session as part of a larger package of public lands bills
currently pending in the Senate, but it still would have to pass the House
before going to President Bush for his signature. 

If that doesn't work, the bill would need to be reintroduced next year, when
Congress reconvenes in January under an Obama administration.#

San Joaquin River restoration bill nears passage

Fresno Bee - 11/12/08

By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau

 

WASHINGTON -- The San Joaquin River restoration effort, which has had many
near-death experiences amid federal budget concerns and farmer worries, now
appears poised for congressional approval as early as next week. 

 

Seemingly endless rounds of negotiations were capped this week when
negotiators resolved the lingering concerns of Los Banos area farmers on the
San Joaquin Valley's west side. 

 

This isn't the first time negotiators have congratulated themselves, but the
latest Capitol Hill progress sounds final. 

 

"I think it should satisfy all concerned," Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein
said Tuesday. "As far as I'm concerned, this is it." 

 

The negotiations answered the lingering concerns of the "exchange
contractors," who are Los Banos-area farmers irrigating about 200,000 acres
on the San Joaquin Valley's west side. Exchange contractors agreed to give
up their historic share of San Joaquin River water in exchange for delta
water via the Delta-Mendota Canal, but they reserved the right to reclaim
their river allocation. 

 

With these farmers mollified about future water supplies, the stage is set
for the river restoration bill to be passed as part of an omnibus public
lands package. 

The public lands bill contains upward of 140 separate parks, wilderness and
environmental provisions. Feinstein said "the odds are even" the Senate will
take up the package during a brief lame-duck session next week; if it
doesn't, Congress will consider the legislation next year. 

 

"I think this thing is ready to go," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa,
said Tuesday. 

 

Feinstein is the chief Senate author of the river restoration bill, first
introduced two years ago in considerably different form. 

 

Radanovich has joined Reps. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and Dennis Cardoza,
D-Merced, in pushing for the bill as well. 

 

The river legislation has stalled since 2006, in part over questions of how
to pay for it. 

 

The original bill had a federal price tag of $250 million or more. It also
alarmed some farmers who worry that restoring water flows and salmon
populations to the San Joaquin River below Friant Dam will sap needed
irrigation deliveries. 

 

The alarm remains in some farm circles, as Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, has
been fighting a rear-guard action against a bill backed by the Bush
administration, the state of California and several dozen irrigation
agencies. 

 

The river rescue deal is supposed to settle a 20-year-old lawsuit filed by
environmentalists unhappy over the decline of the once-teeming waterway. 

Facing tough budget questions, Feinstein rewrote the $250 million river bill
so that it provides only $88 million in guaranteed funding. The rest of the
federal funds needed must be sought in future years, though Feinstein
maintains the $88 million understates how much funding is likely. 

 

The budget maneuver satisfied the congressional pay-as-you-go requirement
that all spending be offset. However, it worried the Firebaugh Canal Water
District, San Luis Canal Co. and other exchange contractors, which feared
they might be shortchanged. 

 

The modified bill is supposed to give high priority to exchange contractor
projects, such as installing fish screens or fish bypass facilities along
the San Joaquin River south of its confluence with the Merced River. The
modified bill also conditions the start of interim flows down the San
Joaquin River channel, currently slated for October 2009, upon completion of
a big environmental study that already is under way. 

 

The final revisions, agreed to late Monday night, are meant to ensure future
irrigation deliveries with language stating that the river restoration plan
will not modify the exchange contractors' existing federal contracts. The
exchange contractors insisted on the language, though some lawmakers thought
it unnecessary.

 
Byron Leydecker, JCT
Chair, Friends of Trinity River
PO Box 2327
Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327
415 383 4810
415 519 4810 cell
bwl3 at comcast.net
bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org (secondary)
http://fotr.org <http://fotr.org/>  
 <mailto:bwl3 at comcast.net>  
 
 
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