Feinstein, Boxer want to add money to San Joaquin River

WASHINGTON, D.C.
January 6, 2009 1:15pm

The San Joaquin River restoration settlement would get the money needed to be implemented under a bill introduced Tuesday by California’s two U.S. Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

“This legislation will authorize and help fund a settlement that restores California’s second longest river, while maintaining a stable water supply for the farmers who have made the San Joaquin Valley the richest agricultural area in the world,” says Ms. Feinstein.

She says the settlement must be funded quickly lest the now-agreeable parties to it resume their decades of water wars.

“It is the only way to prevent a return to years of contentious court battles,” she says.

California’s two Senators originally introduced the measure late in 2006 and then again in 2007, each time with broad bipartisan support. Funding challenges posed by congressional rules required further revisions to the bill, which passed the Senate Energy Committee last May. Finally, this fall, the parties to the settlement and affected third parties, such as the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors, agreed to certain additional changes to the implementing legislation, which is supported by the Bush Administration and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The legislation introduced Tuesday reflects an agreement reached in November 2008 to ensure that the restoration program allocates no more federal funds than it brings in. The agreement also explicitly protects the water rights of third parties and enhances implementation of the settlement’s “Water Management Goal” to reduce or avoid adverse water supply impacts to Friant Division long-term water contractors.

The legislation limits direct spending on settlement implementation to $88 million during the first 10 years. Together with $200 million committed by the state of California and other highly reliable funding, including pre-existing fees paid by water users, there is at least $380-390 million available for implementing the settlement over the next 10 years, with additional dollars possible from additional federal appropriations, Ms. Feinstein’s office says.

After 2019, substantial additional funding will become directly available to continue implementing the settlement.

The settling parties include the Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environment organizations led by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Negotiators for the Department of the Interior and other federal agencies participated fully in the negotiations. The third parties include the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority, Westlands Water District and other San Joaquin Valley water agencies on the San Joaquin River and its tributaries.