Battle over San Joaquin River water heats up
Battle over San Joaquin River water heats up
By: Michael Doyle | Publication: Fresno Bee,
Dec 6, 2006 -
San Joaquin River
turbulence continues, complicating efforts to resolve a long-running conflict
pitting fish against farmers.
Several lawmakers are introducing an ambitious bill today to
restore the river. Another maneuvered aggressively Tuesday with a competing
plan. No one can predict how the next Congress will shake out.
"We owe it to my water folks to try to pass this,"
Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, said Tuesday.
Radanovich and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein are setting
out one approach today by formally introducing a consensus San
Joaquin River
restoration bill. It has a total estimated federal price tag of $490 million,
and depends on $100 million in additional state funds.
Restoration means returning water and the Chinook salmon to
the San Joaquin River
below Friant Dam. The money would pay for channel improvements, fish screens,
bypass canals and other work needed to get the fish back in the river by Dec. 31, 2012.
The congressional effort is needed to complete settlement of
an 18-year-old lawsuit in which the Natural Resources Defense Council and other
environmental groups challenged the federal government and farmers served by
Friant Dam.
With the 109th Congress set to expire Friday, Feinstein
conceded the San Joaquin River
bill won't pass this year. Introducing it now, though, sets the stage for next
year. It also symbolically salutes the lawsuit settlement, which called for
legislation to be passed by year's end.
"This is really a place marker," Feinstein said.
But even as Radanovich and Feinstein were tuning up their
bill, the lawmaker who represents most Friant-area farmers on the San
Joaquin Valley's
east side joined the battle by going his own way.
"This is a major catastrophe waiting to happen,"
said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia. "If we're going to re-wet the river,
let's do it the right way."
Nunes distrusts the proposed San
Joaquin River
settlement, which he says was crafted by "a couple of lawyers and
lobbyists in a room." Although directors of all 22 water agencies served
by Friant endorsed the agreement -- most unanimously -- Nunes cited private
grumbling not reflected in the public votes.
Nunes subsequently drafted his own farmer-friendly
legislation without consulting environmental groups. He tried an end run
Tuesday, hoping to stick the water bill on an unrelated tax package -- but only
if Feinstein agreed.
The maneuver caught everyone by surprise, including the
lawmakers and negotiators who have been working the issue for months.
"It's sneaky," defense council spokesman Craig
Noble said.
Feinstein described the Nunes effort as "terrible"
and spent several frantic hours Tuesday doing her own maneuvering to kill it.
At one point, her environmental staffer had to miss a
meeting on San Joaquin air pollution in order to address
the sudden crisis. In the end, Feinstein succeeded and the Nunes effort failed.
"It would end a 14-month consensus effort to end a
long-running water battle, and instead impose one man's idea of how to restore
the river," Feinstein wrote in a quickly composed letter to Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist.
The fighting isn't over yet, though, as the fast and furious
action Tuesday exposed bitter feelings, rivalries and lingering distrust that
could hinder legislative movement next year on a variety of fronts.
Nunes, for one, angrily denounced the "people who don't
know what they're talking about ... or are lying."
The Nunes proposal would have allowed Central
Valley water customers to file future lawsuits if their operations
are "adversely affected." The federal government would have to
implement within three years a plan to "fully recover or replace" the
water that Friant-area farmers are losing.
"What I've proposed does almost everything
better," Nunes said.
Radanovich, though, called the Nunes proposal unrealistic,
and Feinstein asserted it would overrule state water law and mean the loss of
potential state funds. Radanovich noted his own bill is supported by most other
Valley lawmakers.
"I've got my wish list for Santa, too," Radanovich
said, "but we have to move what everyone agrees on."
The reporter can be reached at mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com or
(202) 383-0006.
Copyright 2006 McClatchy Newspapers, Inc.
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