House passes GOP-backed drought bill

E&E News
By Debrah Kahn
February 6, 2014

The House voted yesterday to approve a bill to deal with California's worsening drought by upending environmental restrictions for fish in favor of sending more water to farmers in the Central Valley.

The bill, H.R. 3964, passed 229-191, largely along party lines. Billed as a fix for farmers, businesses and other water users facing shortages as a result of California's record drought, it drew bitter opposition from most of California's Democratic delegation, which derided it as political posturing that would throw a wrench in the state's water policies.

The bill is not expected to advance in the Senate, and President Obama yesterday said he would veto it in its current form (Greenwire, Feb. 5).

The bill is aimed at changing water management decisions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the main hub of the water system that supplies 25 million people and 700,000 acres of farmland. It would undo a San Joaquin River restoration program that has been the object of a court settlement and intricate compromises between state and federal officials for decades. It would cap the delivery of water for environmental purposes, lengthen irrigation contracts and lift certain environmental protections in area watersheds, among other controversial provisions.

Republicans defeated seven of eight amendments submitted by Democrats, including several that would have pared back the bill's effect on state policies. One, by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), would have prevented the bill from taking effect if it interfered with California's Delta Reform Act of 2009, which enshrined ecosystem restoration alongside water supply reliability as the main priorities for management of the delta.

One amendment, by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), passed. It would submit Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) drought emergency declaration of Jan. 17 to the Commerce Department to make the case for a fishery disaster declaration in California.

California's senators, Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, issued a statement yesterday saying they would introduce a bill soon that would "minimize controversy."

"While House Republicans are pursuing divisive and discredited policies, we will be proposing solutions that will help bring relief to the communities hardest hit by this unprecedented drought," Boxer said.

"I can understand people not liking this solution," said Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.). "But somebody has to give us something to negotiate with."

During the debate, lawmakers touched on long-standing political fault lines that separate California's regions based on geography and water infrastructure.

The delta smelt, an endangered fish that inhabits the delta, served as a punching bag for the GOP. When the smelt is near pumping plants in the delta that send water south, the government has to curtail its pumping to farms and cities in order to protect it under the Endangered Species Act.

Co-sponsor Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who sponsored a similar bill in 2011 that passed the House and died in the Senate, also criticized San Francisco and other coastal cities for benefiting from complex water infrastructure while inland regions' supplies are cut to protect the "stupid little fish."

"Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Francisco: It's a desert," he said. "They don't have water. They make our people that live in the San Joaquin Valley live by rules that they don't want to live by."

"You'd have to have the brain of a 3-inch fish to believe that narrative," Huffman said. "Some people are cynically trying to capitalize on the worst drought in California history in order to steal water."

Seven Democrats voted for the bill, including Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), who had tried to amend it to uphold the San Joaquin River restoration program. Two Republicans voted against it: Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

Meanwhile, federal wildlife officials said yesterday that they would begin monitoring the smelt's condition on the San Joaquin River to make sure it isn't venturing near the pumps that send water south. The Fish and Wildlife Service will perform four surveys over the next two weeks, and more if it starts raining, which would move the fish closer to the pumps.

The surveys "should provide the Service and the water managers opportunities to implement strategies that will reduce the risk to delta smelt while providing opportunities to meet water export goals," FWS said.