<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:windowtext;
font-weight:bold;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Signed by Reps. George
Miller (D-CA), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA),
David Wu (D-OR), Norm Dicks (D-WA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Lynn Woolsey
(D-CA), Kurt Schrader (D-OR), Doris Matsui (D-CA), and John Garamendi (D-CA).<br>
<br>
Link to signed pdf: <a href="http://go.usa.gov/lEc">http://go.usa.gov/lEc</a><br>
<br>
Text below.<br>
<br>
February 18, 2010<br>
<br>
The Hon. Dianne Feinstein<br>
United States Senate<br>
331 Hart Senate Office Building<br>
Washington, D.C. 20510<br>
<br>
Dear Senator Feinstein:<br>
<br>
We write in strong support of Chairwoman Grace Napolitano's request that you
withdraw your recent draft proposal to legislatively override protections for
the threatened and endangered fisheries of the San Francisco Bay-Delta system.
We believe that the approach outlined in your draft amendment is inconsistent
with your record of pursuing compromise solutions to environmental conflicts, and
we urge you not to move forward with the proposed legislation. Simply put, by
undermining existing protections, the “Emergency Temporary Water Supply
amendment” unveiled last week would drive California's and much of
Oregon's salmon to extinction, and it is a severe threat to the thousands of
jobs that depend on the fishing industry in the San Francisco Bay Area,
Northern California, and across the Pacific Coast.<br>
<br>
As you know, the Sacramento River chinook salmon population is lower today than
it has ever been. According to the Pacific Fishery Management Council, fewer
than 40,000 chinook salmon returned to the river this year, down from more than
750,000 in 2002. This collapse, due in considerable part to excessive water
diversions, has had devastating economic consequences for our constituents. The
repeated cancellation of the salmon fishing season has led to an estimated
23,000 jobs lost, with significant negative economic effects along the Pacific
coast, including adverse impacts to small businesses in the Bay Area, the North
Coast of California, and Oregon. Pushing salmon and steelhead populations
closer to extinction, which is a certain consequence of legislatively
undermining federal protections without any scientific basis, would only
exacerbate this economic pain.<br>
<br>
Further, we are deeply concerned that the amendment undercuts the
multi-stakeholder negotiations over the California state legislature's work
last year and the ongoing process to develop a Bay Delta Conservation Plan
(BDCP). The state's legislative package was based on the principle that a
reliable water supply and a restored natural ecosystem need not be in conflict.
By increasing water withdrawals from the Bay-Delta regardless of the effect on
threatened and endangered fisheries, your draft amendment risks undoing the
agreements that led to this comprehensive plan. Similarly, although we have not
endorsed the BDCP, it is very clear that if this amendment goes forward, the
BDCP process cannot be considered a legitimate forum in which to make long-term
decisions about water policy, meaning the time, energy, and funds expended by
the water agencies, governments, and NGOs on the BDCP will have been wasted.<br>
<br>
We understand that your proposed amendment is intended to remedy the effect of
the ongoing drought on irrigation districts in the western San Joaquin Valley.
After all, it is the sustained drought, not environmental protections, that is
responsible for the overwhelming majority of water supply cuts in the last few
years. Yet even during this drought, according to California's Department of
Water Resources, the Westlands Water District, was able to amass more than
990,000 acre-feet of water – 86% of its average annual supply –
through transfers, groundwater, and other sources. And a few miles away, the
San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors received 100% of their contract supply.
Despite the drought, then, it is reasonable to assume that there may be
additional opportunities for those with less secure water rights such as
Westlands to obtain alternative water supplies this year, without having to
preempt science-based processes or to legislate unsustainable water export
levels out of the Bay-Delta. In addition, we are concerned that the proposal to
guarantee a supply to certain contractors regardless of environmental
consequence would severely undermine the allocations of water under decades of
state and federal water law, and create a precedent elsewhere in the West for
riders that reallocate water away from statutory and contractual purposes.<br>
<br>
Again, we urge you to withdraw the recently announced draft “Emergency
Temporary Water Supply amendment” and instead meet with us to work out
other solutions that do not put the fishing jobs and economy of the West Coast
in jeopardy.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
/s/<br>
<br>
<br>
</span></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land/fax (call first to fax)</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
mobile</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>