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[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 7, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S170-S172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BINGAMAN:
  S. 22. A bill to designate certain land components of the National 
Wilderness Preservation System, to authorize certain programs and 
activities in the Department of the Interior and the Department of 
Agriculture, and for other purposes; read the first time.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak to Senator Bingaman's 
introduction today of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. I 
strongly support this bill and Senator Bingaman's leadership in 
sponsoring it, and urge my colleagues to vote for its prompt passage.
  This omnibus legislation includes no fewer than 20 bills of interest 
to California, including 14 bills to increase our water supply and to 
restore our rivers and groundwater quality, 3 bills to designate 
additional wilderness areas, and 3 other National Park Service, Bureau 
of Land Management, and Forest Service bills.
  I would like to speak at some length about one of these bills, the 
San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement Act, which I have introduced 
with Senator Boxer to bring to a close 18 years of litigation between 
the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Friant Water Users Authority 
and the U.S. Department of the Interior. Before I discuss the San 
Joaquin bill, however, I would like to review the other 19 California 
bills in the omnibus legislation introduced today. These include the 
following:

          Additions to National Wilderness Preservation System

  Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wilderness,
  Riverside County Wilderness, and the
  Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Wilderness;

                       Bureau of Land Management

  Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria land 
exchange;

                             Forest Service

  Mammoth Community Water District land conveyance;

                         National Park Services

  Tule Lake Segregation Center Resource Study;

                         Bureau of Reclamation

  San Diego Intertie feasibility study,
  Madera Water Supply Enhancement Project authorization,
  Rancho California Water District project authorization,
  Santa Margarita River project authorization,
  Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District project authorization,
  North Bay Water Reuse Authority project authorization,
  Prado Basin Natural Treatment System Project authorization,
  Bunker Hill Groundwater Basin project authorization,

[[Page S171]]

  GREAT Project authorization,
  Yucaipa Valley Water District project authorization,
  Goleta Water District Water Distribution System title transfer,
  San Gabriel Basin Restoration Fund, and the
  Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program

  I would like to say a few words about the water project 
authorizations and wilderness bills, in addition to the San Joaquin 
River Settlement legislation.
  In the Western U.S., drought, population growth, increasing climate 
variability, and ecosystem needs make managing water supplies 
especially challenging. The 9 California water recycling projects 
included in the omnibus bill offer a proven means to develop cost 
effective alternative water supply projects. Together they will help 
the state reduce its dependence on imported water from both the Lower 
Colorado River and Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta.
  Among the other bills to benefit California water supply and quality, 
one codifies the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation 
Program, MSCP, a 50 year plan to protect endangered species and 
preserve wildlife habitat along the Colorado River.
  The three wilderness bills in this package would together protect a 
wilderness about 735,000 acres of land in Mono, Riverside, Inyo, and 
Los Angeles Counties, and within Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park. 
This will protect spectacular lands ranging from the High Sierras to 
the magnificent California deserts. I want to thank Senator Boxer in 
particular for her leadership on these bills.
  I would like to devote most of my remarks to the San Joaquin River 
Restoration Settlement Act, a bill Senator Boxer and I have cosponsored 
that approves, authorizes and helps fund an historic Settlement on the 
San Joaquin River in California. This Settlement restores California's 
second longest river, while maintaining a stable water supply for the 
farmers who have made the San Joaquin Valley the richest agricultural 
area in the world. One of the major benefits of this settlement is the 
restoration of a long-lost salmon fishery. The return of one of 
California's most important salmon runs will create significant 
benefits for local communities in the San Joaquin Valley, helping to 
restore a beleaguered fishing industry while improving recreation and 
quality of life.
  This San Joaquin Settlement bill is nearly identical to the bill that 
we introduced in the waning days of the 109th Congress, and 
reintroduced at the beginning of the 110th Congress as S. 27. However, 
the bill we are introducing today does reflect a few significant 
changes resulting from discussions among the numerous Settling Parties 
and various ``Third Parties'' in the San Joaquin Valley of California. 
During the past year the parties to the settlement and these affected 
third parties, such as the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors, have 
agreed to certain changes to the legislation to make the measure PAYGO 
neutral and to enhance implementation of the settlement's ``Water 
Management Goal'' to reduce or avoid adverse water supply impacts to 
Friant Division long-term water contractors. The legislation that we 
are introducing today incorporates these changes, which are supported 
by the State of California and major water agencies on the San Joaquin 
River and its tributaries.
  The Settlement has two goals: to restore and maintain fish 
populations in the San Joaquin River, including a selfsustaining salmon 
fishery, and to avoid or reduce adverse water supply impacts to long-
term Friant water contractors. Consistent with the terms of the 
Settlement, we expect that both of these goals will be pursued with 
equal diligence by the Federal agencies.
  Without this consensus resolution of a long-running western water 
battle the parties will continue the fight, resulting in a court-
imposed judgment. It is widely recognized that an outcome imposed by a 
court is likely to be worse for everyone on all counts: more costly, 
riskier for the farmers, and less beneficial for the environment.
  The Settlement provides a framework that the affected interests can 
accept. As a result, this legislation has enjoyed the strong support of 
the Bush Administration, California Governor Schwarzenegger's 
Administration, the environmental and fishing communities and numerous 
California farmers and water districts, including the Friant Water 
Users Authority and its member districts that have been part of the 
litigation.
  When the Federal Court approved the Settlement in late October, 2006, 
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne praised the Settlement for 
launching ``one of the largest environmental restoration projects in 
California's history.'' The Secretary further observed that ``This 
Settlement closes a long chapter of conflict and uncertainty in 
California's San Joaquin Valley . . . and open[s] a new chapter of 
environmental restoration and water supply certainty for the farmers 
and their communities.''
  I share the Secretary's strong support for this balanced and historic 
agreement, and it is my honor to join with Senator Boxer and a 
bipartisan group of California House Members who have previously 
introduced and supported this legislation to authorize and help fund 
the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement.
  During the past year we have worked with the parties to the 
settlement, affected third party agencies and the State of California 
to ensure that the legislation complies with congressional PAYGO rules.
  In May of 2008, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved 
amendments agreed to by the parties that allow most Friant Division 
contractors to accelerate repayment of their construction cost 
obligation to the Treasury. This change both increases the amount of 
up-front funding available for the settlement and decreases the bill's 
PAYGO ``score'' by $88 million, according to the Congressional Budget 
Office. In exchange for agreeing to early re-payment of their 
construction obligation, Friant water agencies will be able to convert 
their 25-year water service contracts to permanent repayment contracts.
  The amendments also included new provisions to enhance the water 
management efforts of affected Friant water districts. Specifically, 
the legislation now includes new authority to provide improvements to 
Friant Division facilities, including restoring capacity in canals, 
reverse flow pump-back facilities, and financial assistance for local 
water banking and groundwater recharge projects, all for the purpose of 
reducing or avoiding impacts on Friant Division contractors resulting 
from additional River flows called for by the Settlement and this 
Legislation.
  Near the end of the 110th Congress, parties to the Settlement and 
affected third parties came to agreement on additional provisions that 
would greatly facilitate passage of the bill by making it PAYGO-
neutral. The legislation we are introducing today includes substantial 
funding, including direct spending on settlement implementation during 
the first ten year period of $88 million gained by early repayment of 
Friant's construction obligation, and substantial additional funding 
authorized for annual appropriation until 2019, after which it then 
becomes available for direct spending again. This additional funding is 
generated by continuing payments from Friant water users and will 
become directly available to continue implementing the settlement by 
2019 if it has not already been appropriated for that purpose before 
then.
  In 2006, California voters showed their support for the settlement by 
approving Propositions 84 and 1E, that will help pay for the 
Settlement, with the State of California now committing at least $200 
million toward the Settlement costs during the next 10 years. When 
State-committed funding, direct spending authorized by the bill, and 
other highly reliable funding including pre-existing payments by water 
users are added together, there is at least $380-390 million available 
for implementing the Settlement over the next 10 years, with additional 
dollars possible from additional federal appropriations.
  Nevertheless, it is my intention to work with the Chairman of the 
Energy and Natural Resources Committee during the 111th Congress to 
find a suitable offset that will allow restoration of all of the direct 
spending envisioned by the settlement without waiting until 2019.
  Today's legislation continues to include substantial protections for 
other

[[Page S172]]

water districts in California who were not party to the original 
settlement negotiations. These other water contractors will be able to 
avoid all but the smallest water impacts as a result of the settlement, 
except on a voluntary basis. These protections are accomplished while 
ensuring a timely and robust restoration of the River and without 
creating any new precedents for implementing the Endangered Species 
Act. Similarly, there is no preemption of State law and nothing in the 
bill changes any existing obligations of the United States to operate 
the Central Valley Project in conformity with state law.
  The bill we are introducing today contains several new provisions to 
strengthen these third-party protections in light of the changes made 
to address PAYGO. These include safeguards to ensure that the San 
Joaquin River Exchange Contractors and other third parties will not 
face increased costs or regulatory burdens as a result of the PAYGO 
changes.
  Support of this agreement is almost as far reaching as its benefits. 
This historic agreement would not have been possible without the 
participation of a remarkably broad group of agencies, stakeholders and 
legislators, reaching far beyond the settling parties. The Department 
of the Interior, the State of California, the Friant Water Users 
Authority, the Natural Resources Defense Council on behalf of 13 other 
environmental organizations and countless other stakeholders came 
together and spent countless hours with legislators in Washington to 
ensure that we found a solution that the large majority of those 
affected could support.
  At the end of the day, I believe that this San Joaquin bill is 
something that we can all feel proud of, and I urge my colleagues to 
move quickly to approve this omnibus public lands legislation and 
provide the administration the authorization it needs to fully carry 
out the extensive restoration opportunities and other actions called 
for under the Settlement.
                                 ______
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