<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_66909" dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.trinityjournal.com/news/local/article_24718382-c728-11e6-bcf1-37f9d9c0a362.html" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67487" class="">http://www.trinityjournal.com/news/local/article_24718382-c728-11e6-bcf1-37f9d9c0a362.html</a><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67530"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67580"><span style="color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 42px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67579">Obama signs water bill with controversial rider</span><br></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato; margin: 20px 0px 40px; position: relative;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67143"><header style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67144"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 20px; margin-right: 100px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67146"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; margin-left: 0;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67147"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67148"><span itemprop="author" style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67149">By AMY GITTELSOHN The Trinity Journal</span></li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67150"><time datetime="2016-12-21T06:15:00-08:00" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67151">2 hrs ago</time></li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67152"><a href="http://www.trinityjournal.com/news/local/article_24718382-c728-11e6-bcf1-37f9d9c0a362.html#comments" title="0 comments" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67202">President Obama on Friday signed a massive water infrastructure bill that includes controversial California provisions intended to maximize water deliveries for agriculture after years of drought.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67203"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67204">The overall bill, the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, includes federal programs for dealing with the lead contamination problem in Flint, Mich., and other areas with issues stemming from lead pipes. It authorizes water projects across the country to restore watersheds, improve waterways and flood control, and improve drinking water infrastructure.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67205"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67206">Much of the $10 billion water bill had broad support. However, the “midnight rider” added in shortly before the House vote in a deal between Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has alarmed fisheries advocates.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67207"></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67208"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67209">Feinstein touted the long-term aspects of the rider which she said are needed for California to not become a desert state.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67210"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67211">“We absolutely must hold water from wet years for use in dry years, and this bill will help accomplish that by investing more than $500 million in projects,” Feinstein said in a news release.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67212"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67213">The bill directs $30 million to desalinization projects, $150 million to water recycling and water conservation projects, $335 million to groundwater and surface storage projects and $43 million to projects that benefit fish and wildlife.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67214"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67215">Further California provisions that sunset in five years seek to increase water deliveries to farmers.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67216"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67217">The goal, Feinstein said, “is to run California’s water system based on good science, not intuition.”</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67218"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67219">But critics, including fellow Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who worked on the broader bill, called the rider an attack on the Endangered Species Act.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67220"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67221">For example, the California provisions seek to maximize deliveries to farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Those deliveries currently are limited by concerns such as effects on fish from the reverse flow caused by pumping.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67222"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67223">The rider requires pumping from the Old and Middle rivers at the “most negative reverse flow rate allowed under the applicable biological opinion to maximize water supplies for the Central Valley Project and State Water Project.”</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67224"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67225">There is the qualifier that pumping can’t harm fish listed under the Endangered Species Act or violate state law.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67226"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67227">The California provisions also call for mandatory CVP water deliveries to farmers based on water-year type.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67228"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67229">By basing water deliveries on water year but not water storage, there is potential for harm to fish and to other beneficial uses dependent on storage, including recreation, hydropower and even agriculture, said Tom Stokely, water policy coordinator for the California Water Impact Network.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67230"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67231">“It has a high potential to drain Shasta and Trinity reservoirs, especially during drought or recovery from drought,” he said.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67232"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67233">If strictly implemented, the California provisions could permanently deplete the cold water supplies for the Trinity and Sacramento rivers, Stokely said, causing massive mortality of fish.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67234"></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67235"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67236">He did note that other sections of the bill prohibit conflict with state and federal laws, including the California Water Code, the Endangered Species Act and the Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67237"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67238">“The legal legacy of protection for the Trinity River provides adequate justification for the incoming Interior Secretary to ignore that part of the new law and keep Trinity Lake from being completely drained on a regular basis,” he said.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67239"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67240">Ronald Stork, senior policy advisor for Friends of the River, commented on the push to get more water through the Delta.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67241"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67242">“What tends to happen now is that the Delta is the bottleneck to getting water to go to the unfulfilled demand of the state and federal water projects,” Stork said. “To the extent that you push the rules that create the bottleneck more to one side it tends to leave the reservoirs in the areas of origin a bit lower on average.”</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67243"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67244">Contractors are certainly hoping the bill increases water exports, Stork said, but he added that “this legislation does not prevent the State Water Resources Control Board from exercising adult supervision over the potentially new and reckless Reclamation.”</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67245"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67246">Stork said the legislation was tempered due to Feinstein’s involvement, but he foresees more of this type of legislation coming down the pike.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67247"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67248">Because of the rider they referred to as a “poison pill,” the bill was opposed by Sen. Boxer, who sponsored the original legislation, and by Trinity County’s representative in the House Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, who called the rider, “a slap in the face to all of us who want to enact good infrastructure policy, who have been working to deliver for the families of Flint, and whose states care about salmon fishing jobs.”</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67249"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67250">But Feinstein called the bill the product of three years of effort and a compromise, saying, “A state with 40 million people simply can’t rely on a water system put in place when we were 16 million people, and this bill is a big step in the right direction.”</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67251"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67252"></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67253"></div></div><div data-subscription-required-remove="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 14px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67254"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: none;" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67255"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; opacity: 0.8; -webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; display: inline-block; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67256"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trinityjournal.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Farticle_24718382-c728-11e6-bcf1-37f9d9c0a362.html%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_campaign%3Duser-share" target="_blank" title="Share on Facebook" data-toggle="new-window" data-new-window-width="500" data-new-window-height="300" data-track="{"network":"Facebook","socialAction":"post","url":"/news/local/article_24718382-c728-11e6-bcf1-37f9d9c0a362.html"}" data-tncms-track-event="{"app":"editorial","metric":"social_share","id":24718382-c728-11e6-bcf1-37f9d9c0a362}" data-tncms-track-dmp="Social Media Share" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; display: block; white-space: nowrap; margin-left: 1px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67257" title-off=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; display: inline-block; width: 2em; min-height: 2em; line-height: 2em; vertical-align: middle;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_67258"></span></a></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_66911"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482301417235_66915"><br></div></div></div></body></html>