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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/cctimes/living/science/14184974.htm?source=rss&channel=cctimes_science">http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/cctimes/living/science/14184974.htm?source=rss&channel=cctimes_science</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Fresno,
farmers say split costs them<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-weight:bold'>In
second congressional hearing on Delta crisis, some object to project's
environmental provisions<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-weight:bold'>By
Mike Taugher<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-weight:bold'>CONTRA
COSTA TIMES<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>FRESNO
- </span></font></b>In the heart of the nation's richest agricultural region,
farm agency representatives said Friday it was time to rein in a far-reaching
environmental restoration law and move faster to build reservoirs to secure
more water for farms, cities and wildlife.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We got to
stick together ... for the fight of our lives," Fresno Mayor Alan Autry
said before a crowd of more than 200. "There is enough water to go around,
but it's going to other parts of the state."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Delta, an
important source of water for the Bay Area, Southern California cities, <st1:place
w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place> farmers and numerous fish species that
depend on it for habitat, is under intense scrutiny as competing users battle
over who gets the water.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Right now,
we don't have enough water for the people who are already here," Autry
said, predicting that failing to secure more water for farmers would leave the
burgeoning San Joaquin Valley "the largest welfare state within a state
that the world has ever seen."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>For the second
time in less than a month, a congressional panel gathered to look at problems
in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, this time focusing on frustrations
about the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, which farmers believe has
cost them water and money.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The hearing was
called by Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, to review the 1992 law, which was
authored by Martinez Democrat Rep. George Miller and former New Jersey Sen.
Bill Bradley.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>San Joaquin</span></font></st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> farmers who get water from the
federal water project, one of the nation's largest, object to provisions that
shift 800,000 acre-feet of water a year from agricultural use to the
environment. That is enough water for about 1.5 million homes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>They also question
whether they should continue to be charged for environmental restoration.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The law was meant
to reverse environmental damage caused by the Central Valley Project since it
began delivering water in the early 1930s, first to the relatively small Contra
Costa Water District and eventually to sprawling corporate farms in the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"There were
some very good politicians that wrote this in the dead of night, stuck it in a
(larger bill) and rammed it down the throat of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>,"
said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, one of four congressional members from the
valley to attend.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>After the hearing,
Radanovich said his water and power subcommittee of the House Resources
Committee might hold further hearings to consider amendments to the Central
Valley Project Improvement Act.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Tom Birmingham,
general manager of the Westlands Water District, a region of farms that runs 70
miles long and 15 miles wide in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fresno</st1:place></st1:City>
and Kings counties, said his district's water supply is far less reliable since
the law was passed 14 years ago. He also questioned the use of some of the
nearly $500 million that farmers and other beneficiaries of the project have
paid under the act for environmental restoration.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But
environmentalists, anglers and others say <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s salmon and bird populations
would be worse off without the law. And, with several open water species of
Delta fish in a serious decline, they say this is not the time to ease
environmental protection laws.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Central Valley
Project was operating for 50 years before the law was passed, noted Mindy
McIntyre, a water policy specialist at the Planning and Conservation League.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Of course,
you can't fix all of the damage caused by the CVP already," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Zeke Grader,
executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations,
a commercial fishing organization, said the legislation was the most important
federal law for <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s
salmon in the past 50 years.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In prepared
testimony, Grader said the water delivery system prior to the 1992 legislation
"ignored, and harmed, the environment, fisheries, drinking water quality, <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">North</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType>
communities, indeed, most of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>.
The CVPIA (legislation) represented a modest attempt to restore some balance to
the system."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Neither Miller nor
Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, the Resources Committee chairman, was able to
attend Friday's hearing. But more hearings on the Delta's problems are planned
for the coming months, according to committee spokesman Brian Kennedy.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Last month, the
committee met in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Stockton</st1:place></st1:City>
to hear from scientists about why the Delta ecosystem appears to be unraveling.
State and federal scientists said they were still uncertain why several species
of open-water Delta fish have plummeted in recent years.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Next month, the
committee is expected to examine fragile Delta levees and the risk they pose to
the state's water supply. That hearing is expected to be in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">D.C.</st1:State></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Delta is a
source of drinking water for 23 million Californians and millions of acres of
farmland. A series of levee failures could foul those water supplies because
flooding into the subsided islands can suck saltier water into the Delta from <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Scientists and
water managers have become increasingly worried about the aging levees. The
Jones Tract flood in 2004 and the flooding of <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">New Orleans</st1:place></st1:City> last year reinforced, in their
minds, how devastating levee failures can be.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Radanovich said
Friday that the committee might also take a broad look at CalFed, the troubled
state and federal program. It was created to protect the Delta environment and
water supplies, but after more than five years and $3 billion, it has little
success to show.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=1 width="100%" noshade color="#cccccc" align=center>
</span></font></div>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'>Mike Taugher covers natural
resources. Reach him at 925-943-8257 or <a href="mailto:mtaugher@cctimes.com">mtaugher@cctimes.com</a>.</span></font></i>
<o:p></o:p></p>
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font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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