Feinstein leads bipartisan call for more deliveries to Calif. farmers

E&E News
By Debra Kahn
March 28, 2014

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D), Rep. Devin Nunes (R) and other members of California's delegation asked the Obama administration yesterday to make more water available for farmers struggling with the state's ongoing drought.

Feinstein sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker urging them to ease rules that protect endangered fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in order to send more water to farms and communities.

"Let us be clear: A disaster of great magnitude has been unfolding in our communities, and will continue to worsen with each passing day if relief is not provided," they wrote. "This latest rain storm is occurring as we speak. You have authority under the law and, we assert, the obligation, to immediately take advantage of the rare, and likely the last, opportunity this year to capture and move water to bring relief to millions of Californians, and to mitigate the large-scale drought disaster that has struck our State."

Storms that are expected this week in the Sierra Nevada and the San Joaquin Valley may be the last of the season in a year that has rivaled the driest period on record for the state, 1976-77.

The lawmakers are asking the secretaries to "evaluate the regulatory criteria" under which they operate the Central Valley Project and State Water Project, two huge water delivery systems that supply river water to 25 million Californians and 3 million acres of farmland. The projects can suck fish into their pumps, so when endangered fish are in the vicinity, water managers have to curtail their operations.

The letter includes a list of fish that have been killed by water operations so far. Under the Endangered Species Act, water managers have annual limits on the number of delta smelt and chinook salmon that can be "taken." They are nowhere near those limits, with 249 winter-run salmon killed out of a maximum of 24,237 allowed. No smelt have been killed, and 148 out of 3,000 permitted steelhead have been killed.

Meanwhile, water allocations for farmers have been cut to zero in some cases (E&ENews PM, Feb. 21).

"[E]xisting protections for endangered fish are more than adequate," the lawmakers wrote. "On the other hand, our constituents' farms and communities are facing potential devastation. From our view, it is apparent that there is a significant imbalance of regulatory burdens."

Feinstein and Nunes were accompanied by Reps. Ken Calvert (R), Jim Costa (D), Jeff Denham (R), Kevin McCarthy (R) and David Valadao (R). The Republicans have clashed with Feinstein over ways to address the drought. Feinstein strongly opposed a bill by Valadao, H.R. 3964, that passed the House last month and would overturn environmental restrictions on water deliveries to the Central Valley (E&E Daily, Jan. 30).

Feinstein's S. 2016, which has not had a hearing yet, would provide funding for conservation, crop protection, water exchanges and other tools, as well as direct federal agencies to maximize water deliveries under current state and federal environmental laws protecting fish in the delta.

Groups that advocate for fish in the delta strongly opposed the request, saying it would help large, corporate farms at the expense of fish that are facing already-grave water conditions. The Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this week began trucking baby salmon down the Sacramento River in order to bypass water pumps in the delta (Greenwire, March 26)

"Basically Senator Feinstein and others are calling on Secretary Jewell to mug species that are already in the critical care unit so we can keep serving almonds for export," said Patricia Schifferle, director of a consulting firm, Pacific Advocates, that works for fishing and environmental groups.