News of the Arroyo
Title: | State water bill advances |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2004-07-10 |
Summary: | July 10, 2004 - The House of Representatives has passed a critical piece of legislation supporting the CALFED program to restore the Sacramento San Joaguin Delta ecosystem and to ensure water supplies for more than 20 million Californians. |
Author: | Erica Werner |
Publication: | Pasadena Star News - Associated |
Content: | House OKs $389 million measure to fund delta project Friday, July 09, 2004 - The House of Representatives approved a $389 million California water bill Friday, taking a major step forward in long-fought plans to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and ensure water supplies for millions of people. The bill to authorize the California Federal Bay-Delta Program, better known as CalFed, passed on a voice vote. It authorizes numerous water projects including constructing storage facilities, stabilizing delta levees, conducting flood management programs and implementing water quality improvement measures. The bill is meant to restore the fragile delta area that provides drinking water for two-thirds of the state and irrigation water for crops in the Central Valley. It would also increase water flows to thirsty Southern California. The bill has been stalled for years as legislators, environmentalists, farmers and others clashed over its cost and provisions. \"For over 10 years we have been trying to move this process forward to develop a comprehensive water plan to benefit all of California, and this legislation does just that,\' said Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, chairman of the House Resources Committee. \"This legislation addresses the water needs of California, bringing adversaries together for the first time on many of these issues.\' The bill has yet to pass the Senate, and there are differences between the House and Senate versions. Perhaps most importantly, the House version contains a measure opposed by some Democrats and environmentalists that would allow the secretary of the interior to approve water projects without congressional signoff. Congress would be given 120 days to disapprove of projects, but would not be asked to approve them. \"This bill sets the dangerous precedent of authorizing large- scale projects before they\'ve undergone comprehensive review and analysis,\' said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo. Tauscher and Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, tried to send the bill back to the House Resources Committee to get rid of the so-called \"preauthorization\' language, but their effort failed on a vote of 255-139. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has been working closely with Pombo, and hopes to get the bill through the Senate before Congress recesses for the summer at the end of this month, her aides said Friday. The differences between the House and Senate versions would then have to be reconciled. Labor and water user groups welcomed passage of the bill. \"The House\'s action today is a milestone in California water, and will help deliver the water we\'ll need tomorrow,\' Steve Hall, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, said in a statement. The cost of the measure was slashed from previous CalFed bills, which bore price tags as high as $2.4 billion. The cost was reduced by leaving out projects that have been dealt with individually over the years. Congressional appropriators would have to determine exact funding levels for projects in the bill later. But without the authorization bill, no money could be appropriated. The bill spans six years, whereas previous versions covered four. The CalFed program, a state- federal effort, has been in the works for a decade. The current effort stems from a 2000 agreement, reached after years of negotiations, on a package of projects to ensure water for different groups of users. |
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