[env-trinity] Congress Approves Water Bill With Feinstein's Environmentally Destructive Rider

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/12/10/1609636/-Congress-Approves-Water-Bill-With-Feinstein-s-Environmentally-Destructive-Rider



Congress Approves Water Bill With Feinstein's Environmentally  
Destructive Rider

by Dan Bacher

The U.S. Senate on December 9 voted 78 to 21 to pass a bill approving  
water projects across the country, including an alarming rider  
amounting to a water grab for corporate agribusiness interests in  
California.


The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016 will now go to  
President Obama's desk for his signature. If the bill is signed by  
Obama, the rider attached to the legislation will weaken Endangered  
Species Act protections for salmon, Delta smelt and other fish species  
— and allow more pumping of Delta water to subsidized corporate  
farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.

The rider would also give greater power over water projects to the  
Secretary of Interior. For example, it authorizes the Secretary of the  
Interior to construct Federally owned storage projects that are cost- 
shared 50-50 with non-Federal parties.

“The rider departs from traditional Federal water law in that Congress  
is not authorizing projects,” said Ron Stork of Friends of the River.  
“Rather, Congress is authorizing the Secretary to participate in any  
project he or she wishes to, subject to the provisions of this bill  
and the wishes of the appropriations committees.”

The granting of greater power to the Interior Secretary on  
constructing federal storage projects could have a dramatic impact on  
struggling Western salmon and steelhead populations, in light of  
President-Elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Representative Cathy  
McMorris Rodgers as Secretary of Interior. The rider gives the Trump  
administration the sole authority to approve dams like the Temperance  
Flat Dam on the San Joaquin River.

McMorris Rogers is beholden to the oil and gas, timber industry and  
other corporate interests - and seeks to open federal land and waters  
to fracking and other fossil fuel development, according to  
environmental groups. She received $109,600 from the oil and gas  
industry and $83,950 from the forestry and forest products industry in  
2016, according to Open Secrets. bit.ly/....

“We are heartbroken at the passage of the Big Ag rider and the  
betrayal by Senator Dianne Feinstein,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla,  
Executive Director of Restore the Delta. “She and the San Joaquin  
Valley Republican Congressional Members took advantage of what is a  
good bill for the rest of the United States, by slipping in a scheme  
to over pump the SF Bay-Delta estuary. We are grateful to all the  
people and friends of the Bay-Delta estuary who took action. Please  
stay tuned on our next steps Monday. The fight will go on.”

The conflict over the rider between retiring Senator Boxer and Senator  
Dianne Feinstein erupted into a bitter split,  with Boxer opposing the  
bill with a “poison pill rider,” even though she was a sponsor of the  
original legislation. Senator Dianne Feinstein and Majority Leader  
Rep. Kevin McCarthy worked out a deal on language to attach to the  
WRDA (Water Resources Development Act) in the lame duck session.

“The question I ask myself about this bill is will it help  
California?” said Senator Feinstein in a statement. “Will the $558  
million in long-term authorizations help California develop a new  
water infrastructure? Will the short-term operational improvements  
help us hold more water in a way that does not negatively affect fish  
or the environment? I believe the answer is  
yes.” (mavensnotebook.com/...)

Senator Boxer strongly disagreed with Feinstein. Boxer said the last- 
minute rider would place the interests of agribusiness interests over  
the commercial and recreational fishing industries — and  undermine  
Endangered Species Act protections for salmon, steelhead and other  
fish species in California, Oregon and Washington.

“I was stunned to see comments made by Kevin McCarthy that the  
outrageous poison pill that he is trying to place on WRDA is ‘a little  
small agreement’ on California drought. I will use every tool at my  
disposal to stop this last minute poison pill rider,” Boxer vowed  
before the vote. (mavensnotebook.com…

Likewise, Congressman Jared Huffman said, “Anyone that participates in  
this charade should be ashamed. This is a slap in the face to all of  
us who want to enact good infrastructure policy, who have been working  
to deliver for the families of Flint, and whose states care about  
salmon fishing jobs.”

John McManus, executive director of the Golden Gate Salmon Association  
(GGSA), emphasized the terrible impact the adoption of the rider would  
have upon salmon fishing jobs along the West Coast and in the  
Sacramento Valley.

“It takes one gallon of water to produce a single almond,” said  
McManus. “Why are some in Congress insisting on taking even more water  
from Northern California salmon and giving it to junior water rights  
holders in the western San Joaquin desert to grow more almonds for  
export overseas?  Seizing more Northern California salmon water to  
reward political friends in the Western San Joaquin desert will  
greatly harm thousands of working people up and down the coast and in  
the Sacramento Valley who depend on salmon to make a living.”

California’s salmon industry is valued over $2 billion in economic  
activity in a normal season including economic activity and jobs in  
Oregon, according to McManus. The industry employs tens of thousands  
of people from Santa Barbara to northern Oregon.

“This is a huge economic bloc made up of commercial fishermen,  
recreational fishermen (fresh and salt water), fish processors,  
marinas, coastal communities, equipment manufacturers, the hotel and  
food industry, Tribes, and the salmon fishing industry at large,” he  
noted.

In a big betrayal to the people of the Delta, Tribes, fishermen and  
all Californians, Representatives John Garamendi, Doris O. Matsui, and  
Congressman Ami Bera voted for the WRDA with the rider sponsored by  
Stewart Resnick-backed Congressman David G. Valadao and Senator Dianne  
Feinstein to over pump and decimate the San Francisco Bay-Delta.

And in yet another betrayal to the people of California, Governor  
Jerry Brown, who constantly poses as a “green governor” and “climate  
leader” amidst fawning coverage by the mainstream media, did nothing  
to oppose the bill, even though it will have a devastating impact on  
the fisheries, environment and economy of the state. The silence of  
the Brown administration appears to be consent.

Could that silence result from Brown wanting to make a deal with  
President Trump to weaken the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water  
Act in order to fast-track the construction of his “legacy project,”  
the Delta Tunnels? 
   
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