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<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Point Man on Western Water Is Stepping Down</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Interior Department's folksy Bennett Raley pushed
marketing to shift supplies -- and finally got <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> to go on a water diet.</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><strong><b><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Los
Angeles</span></font></b></strong></st1:place></st1:City><strong><b><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'> Times -
12/2/04</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>By Bettina Boxall and Tony Perry, staff writers</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Bennett
Raley, architect of the Bush administration's Western water policies for the
last three years, announced Wednesday he was leaving his job as assistant
secretary of the Interior for water and science.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Raley
oversaw federal policy during a particularly challenging time, when the demands
of a fast-growing region collided with drought. Yet he insisted there was
plenty of water in the West </span></font><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>—</span></font><font size=4><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'> it was just a matter of shifting its uses through
water marketing, an approach that many think represents the future of Western
water management.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>In <st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State>, Raley may be remembered best as the folksy
but firm bureaucrat who finally made good on the federal government's
long-standing threat to put <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
on a water diet. He did it by forcing the state to agree to stop using more
than its share of the <st1:place w:st="on">Colorado River</st1:place>, freeing
up water for other Western states. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>A major
disappointment of his tenure was a failure to resolve one of the West's
angriest contests for water: the struggle that pits the irrigation demands of
farmers in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Klamath</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> along the
California-Oregon border against the needs of Native Americans and other
fishermen who rely on healthy downstream flows to sustain salmon and other
fish. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"At
least we got people back to where they are at least working with each
other," Raley said.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Commenting
on his resignation, Raley, a <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Colorado</st1:place></st1:State>
water lawyer with two teenage daughters, said, "The primary reason is
family." He added: "But also I believe in jobs like this, you have a
limited shelf life. You have to do your best and move on."</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>His
efforts at compromise gave short shrift to the environment, say
conservationists who argue that he helped weaken fish and wildlife protections.
And while Western agricultural interests stand to profit handsomely from the
farm-to-city water transfers that Raley championed, he angered one of the
West's biggest irrigation districts, in California's Imperial Valley, by
questioning its water use.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"I'm
sorry I've made some people unhappy, but I sleep well at night," said
Raley, who grew up in a <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Colorado</st1:place></st1:State>
ranching family and never gave up his cowboy boots.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>He said
he planned to resume his law practice and that he had no political aspirations.
He also said he doubted his departure would signal a shift in the
administration's water policies.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Raley's
resignation is effective Friday. Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton named Tom
Weimer, principal deputy under Raley, as acting assistant secretary, but did
not say who would permanently fill the position.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"Bennett
has been the linchpin of this administration's Western water policy, tackling
some of the most contentious issues facing the region during a prolonged period
of drought," Norton said. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"As
the lead federal negotiator on the 2003 Colorado River Water Delivery
Agreement, he helped to bring certainty and predictability to the long-term
water supplies of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Colorado</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> states,"
she added. "The agreement resolved issues that had divided water users in
the lower <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Colorado</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">River basin</st1:PlaceType> for more than 70 years and led to the
largest transfer of water from agricultural use to urban use in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> history."</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
complicated deal calls for <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State> to phase
out its use of Colorado River surplus deliveries and for the giant Imperial
Irrigation District to sell some of its <st1:State w:st="on">Colorado</st1:State>
water to <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Diego</st1:place></st1:City>.
</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>To forge
the agreement, Raley cajoled, imposed cutbacks and questioned Imperial's water
use. No agency got all that it wanted, and numerous prickly details are still
being resolved </span></font><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>—</span></font><font size=4><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'> including a controversial plan to fallow farmland in
the <st1:place w:st="on">Imperial Valley</st1:place>. A plan to protect the
inland <st1:place w:st="on">Salton Sea</st1:place> from rising salinity levels
also has yet to be finalized.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Stella
Mendoza, a member of Imperial's governing board, said she wished Raley good
luck, but that she was not sorry to see him go.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"I
always felt he was not a friend of" the Imperial Irrigation District, she
said. "The best interests of the valley were not on his agenda. We were
threatened with the taking of our water and we were forced to act prematurely.
I felt at times the board was being intimidated."</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Raley's
cowboy boots and folksy ways never fooled her, she added. "He tried to
convince us he was one of us."</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Still,
getting <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
to agree to stop taking more than its share of the river was widely seen as a
historic breakthrough.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Ronald R.
Gastelum, president and chief executive of the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California, which long relied on the surplus Colorado water, called
Raley "pragmatic" and a "problem solver" who "also
came to terms with the fact that there are a lot of changes in California, and
that it is not going to be business as usual." </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Brenda
Southwick, managing counsel of the California Farm Bureau, said Raley was
straightforward. "Overall, the thing we most appreciated about him was
that he was a straight shooter. You pretty much knew where he stood."</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>While
conservationists prefer water marketing to new dams, they faulted Raley for
dragging his feet on environmental protections and too closely catering to the
needs of the federal government's biggest water customer, Western agriculture.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 color=red face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
color:red'>"Bennett Raley has been the architect of the return of the
water policies of the 1940s and 1950s," said <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Barry
Nelson</st1:PersonName>, senior policy analyst for the Natural Resources
Defense Council. "He's worked very hard to protect the interests of a
small set of highly subsidized agricultural interests and ignored the needs of the
modern West. He's been tremendously anti-environment."</span></font><font
color=red><span style='color:red'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 color=red face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
color:red'>Nelson cited the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Klamath</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType> in <st1:place w:st="on">Northern California</st1:place>,
where more than 30,000 salmon perished in 2002 after river flows were reduced
to increase irrigation deliveries. He also pointed to what he called the
Interior Department's "glacial movement" in restoration of the
Trinity River, also in <st1:place w:st="on">Northern California</st1:place>.</span></font><font
color=red><span style='color:red'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>He
further criticized Raley for not backing funding for wastewater reclamation
projects to benefit urban areas.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"He's
also not been very interested in solving the water supply needs for urban
areas," Nelson said. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Consultant, California Trout, Inc.</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 ph</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810 ce</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 9562 fx</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><em><i><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='text-decoration:none'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></font></i></em></a><em><i><font
face="Times New Roman"> (secondary)</font></i></em><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.fotr.org">http://www.fotr.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'><a href="http://www.caltrout.org">http://www.caltrout.org</a></span><o:p></o:p></font></i></p>
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