[env-trinity] Rep. McNerney, Delta advocates denounce Nunes bill as water grab

[Dan Bacher]

http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2012/02/15/rep-mcnerney-delta- 
advocates-denounce-nunes-bill-as-water-grab/

“Congressman Nunes’ HR 1837 is specifically designed for a full on  
water grab from the Delta," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive  
Director of Restore the Delta.

Photo of Representative Devin Nunes courtesy of Nunes' office.



img1.png

Rep. McNerney, Delta advocates denounce Nunes bill as water grab

by Dan Bacher

The water wars ramped up on Tuesday, February 14 with the  
announcement of the markup of federal legislation designed to divert  
more Delta water to corporate agribusiness and to sabotage the  
historic San Joaquin River Restoration Agreement.

Representative Devin Nunes (CA-21) said the House Natural Resources  
Committee has scheduled a markup for H.R. 1837, the "Sacramento-San  
Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act," a bill that Representative  
Jerry McNerney and Delta advocates denounced as a "water grab"  
conceived behind closed doors.

"I am pleased that after four years of inaction by Democratic super- 
majorities in Congress, we are now – under Republican leadership -  
able to move forward with a solution to California’s government- 
imposed drought,” claimed Nunes.

"This legislation is a comprehensive regional solution to water  
shortages that have been caused by failed government policies, not  
actual shortages of water. We have crafted a good bill that not only  
restores the flow of water but will ultimately make unnecessary the  
construction of a $12 billion canal to bypass the Bay-Delta," he  
concluded.

The markup for HR 1837 will take place on Thursday, February 16, 2012  
and consideration by the full House is expected in the coming weeks.

Representative Jerry McNerney (D-11) reacted to the pending committee  
markup of H.R. 1837 by blasting the bill for being "yet another  
example of a water scheme created behind closed doors and without the  
input of the Delta communities."

"Any legislation that will forever affect the Delta must include the  
input of the people who reside there and rely on a healthy Delta for  
their livelihoods," said McNerney.

"This bill is deeply-flawed, and it will rob the Delta of clean water  
and reduce the quality of the water that remains. To steal water from  
one community to benefit another is unconscionable and would have  
disastrous consequences for the Delta communities," he noted.

"This is yet another example of how greedy water exporters and their  
allies will stop at nothing to achieve their goals with total  
disregard for the disastrous consequences for the Delta," said  
McNerney. "I will continue to call for fair solutions that include  
the input of all stakeholders, and to stand with the families,  
farmers, and small business owners who rely on the Delta for their  
economic security."

Restore the Delta also denounced the bill. “Congressman Nunes’ HR  
1837 is specifically designed for a full on water grab from the  
Delta," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore  
the Delta. "It not only over rides the public trust as defined in the  
California Constitution and state water laws, it seeks to promote a  
large corporate agribusiness economy, all at the expense of Delta  
family farmers."

"If you want any striped bass in the Bay/Delta or anywhere else in  
California, or any other anadromous fisheries for that matter, you  
had get in touch with your Congressional Representative because H.R.  
Bill 1837 is out to kill the Central Valley Project Improvement Act  
(CVPIA) and its fisheries restoration objectives, as well as sucking  
Northern California dry," according to Mike McKenzie of the Allied  
Fishing Groups. "This is a classic example of self-serving greed by  
Southern San Joaquin Valley corporate agribusiness."

You can read the bill at: http://thomas.gov/home/gpoxmlc112/ 
h1837_ih.xml.

Nunes announced the legislation's mark-up as the Obama and Brown  
administrations are fast-tracking the construction of the peripheral  
canal or tunnel to export more water to southern California and  
corporate agribusiness interests on the west side of the San Joaquin  
Valley. The construction of the peripheral canal would likely result  
in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River  
chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green  
sturgeon and southern resident killer whales (that feed on salmon).

On the same day, the S.F. Chronicle published an article entitled  
"Bay Delta Conservation Plan is best option" by Natural Resources  
Secretary John Laird. Laird claimed,"This robust public stakeholder  
process was developed to hear all sides and understand  
issues." (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/15/ 
EDTP1N81IT.DTL)

In fact, officials in the water contractor-dominated process have  
gone out of their way to exclude Delta residents, recreational and  
commercial fishermen, California Indian Tribes, family farmers,  
grassroots conservationists and environmental justice communities  
from the BDCP "Management Committee" and to marginalize opposition to  
plans to build the peripheral canal.

Between the assault on the Delta and fish populations by the Brown  
and Obama administrations through the BDCP process, on one hand, and  
by Devin Nunes and Congressional Republicans through HR 1837, on the  
other hand, advocates of the Delta and fish restoration really got  
their work cut out for them in 2012!

Below are excerpts from the language of HR 1837:

SEC. 108. COMPLIANCE WITH ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973.

(a) Compliance-

(1) IN GENERAL- All requirements of the Endangered Species Act of  
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) shall be considered to be fully met for  
the protection and conservation of the species listed pursuant to the  
Act for the operations of the Central Valley Project and the  
California State Water Project, if the Central Valley Project and the  
California State Water Project are operated in a manner consistent  
with the `Principles for Agreement on the Bay-Delta Standards Between  
the State of California and the Federal Government' dated December  
15, 1994.

(2) BIOLOGICAL OPINIONS AND MODIFICATION- The Secretary of the  
Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall issue biological  
opinions for coordinated operations of the Central Valley Project and  
the California State Water Project that are no more restrictive than  
provisions of the `Principles for Agreement on the Bay-Delta  
Standards Between the State of California and the Federal Government'  
dated December 15, 1994. Such biological opinions may be modified  
only with the consent of the signatories to the `Principles for  
Agreement on the Bay-Delta Standards Between the State of California  
and the Federal Government' dated December 15, 1994.

(b) Preemption of State Law-

(1) STATE LAW PREEMPTION- Neither the State of California, an agency  
of the State, nor any political subdivision of the State shall adopt  
or enforce any requirement for the protection or conservation of any  
species listed under the Endangered Species Act for the operations of  
the Central Valley Project or the California State Water Project that  
is more restrictive than the requirements of this section. Any  
provision of California State law that authorizes the imposition of  
conditions or restrictions on the operations of the Central Valley  
Project or the California State Water Project for the protection or  
conservation of a species that is more restrictive than this section  
is preempted.

(2) NATIVE SPECIES PROTECTION- Any restriction imposed under  
California law on the take or harvest of any nonnative or introduced  
aquatic or terrestrial species that preys upon a native fish species  
that occupies the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and their  
tributaries or the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers Delta shall be void  
and is preempted. 
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