Date: 2009-03-25
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 146. the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. This legislation is the culmination of years of hard work. negotiation. and consensusbuilding. and I -commend Chairman RAHALL.and his subcommittee chairs. including RAUL GRIJALVA and GRACE NAPOLITANO. and the Natural Resources Committee staff. for all of their efforts to bring this bill before us today. The Omnibus Public Land Management Act is a compilation of many of the most important conservation measures that the Congress has considered in years. and it is supported by a diverse coalition that includes the outdoor industry. sportsmens associations. parks and wilderness advocates. faith groups. and literally dozens of individual conservation and wildlife protection organizations from across the country. In California. for example. this bill will protect significant stretches of federal land for future generations by enacting the California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act. the SequoiaKings Canyon National Park Wilderness Act. and the Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wild Heritage Act. But this bill is not just about protecting national treasures for future generations. Its also about taking very significant steps to resolve water conflicts. All of us who represent California and the arid West are very concerned about drought. and this bill provides solutions: the legislation before us today resolves conflicts that have dragged on fo( decades. and it will bring substantial clean water supplies online. We owe it to our constituents to support this bill. Some previous speakers have erroneously claimed that the Omnibus Public Land Management Act would harm our water supplies. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact of the matter is that this bill increases the clean water supply available to the American West. and it settles years of costly litigation over water. California. for example. will see seven Title XVI water recycling projects authorized by this package. in addition to two groundwater recharge projects. These projects will allow local communities across our state to produce almost half a million acrefeet of reclaimed reuse water and added storage capacity. These water provisions are environmentally sustainable and they are costeffective. and should be supported by our states entire congressional delegation. Because of the widespread benefits of these Title XVI and groundwater water supply authorizations. this bill is supported by a broad coalition that includes the Association of California Water Agencies. the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. the National Water Resources Association. and the Western Urban Water Coalition. I ask unanimous consent to include in the RECORD a letter of support sent by this coalition earlier this month to Speaker PELOSI and Minority Leader BOEHNER. These agencies and associations are supporting the Omnibus Public Land Management Act because they know that this bill represents a historic chance to meet our water challenges headon. I strongly support continued investment in these and other alternative water supplies. and encourage the Bureau of Reclamation to move expeditiously on these projects. The bill before us today also provides us witb the remarkable opportunity to resolve nearly two decades of litigation over the restoration of the San Joaquin River in California. The San Joaquin Restoration Settlement Act is supported by the local affected water districts and the Friant Water Users Authority. the environmental and fishing group plaintiffs who brought the lawsuit. and by the state and federal government. By approving H.R. 146. we are voting to restore water and salmon to the oncemighty San Joaquin River. as well as to authorize programs to help local farmers avoid potential negative impacts from the restoration program. Without this legislation. the parties to the lawsuit would have no choice but to return to court. meaning wasted time and energy. a lack of certainty for both sides. and the loss of significant nonfederal funding. By passing this legislation today. we provide the funding and legal authority the Department of the Interior needs to ensure a timely and robust restoration program. which is so essential to the success of this settlement. As many of my colleagues know. the continued shutdown of the sport and commercial salmon fisheries in our state has resulted in significant economic losses. While California must do more to restore the health of the BayDelta and the Sacramento River. restoring 30.000 spring run Chinook salmon to the San Joaquin River each year. as this legislation intends. will help ensure that Californias salmon. and the considerable statewide economic activity that depends on healthy salmon runs. are restored and sustained for future generations. Approving the San Joaquin River Settlement will help bring the States second largest river back to life. improving water quality for the BayDelta. and it will achieve some of the goals of the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act. Perhaps most importantly. Congresss approval of this settlement will demonstrate that environmentalists and farmers can work together with federal and state agencies to resolve Californias water challenges in a way that all parties can live with. While passage of this legislation is not the final step in the restoration of the river. and although we will need to watch the agencies implementation of the settlement carefully. this vote today is a critical step in a very long process. For those of us who represent California and the West. its very clear that this bill offers a significant opportunity to protect our natural resources. address serious economic problems. and resolve conflicts over water. We cant afford to miss this chance. For all these reasons and more. I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R. 146the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of Re S. 22 Omnibus Public Lands Act. Hon. NANCY PELOSI. House of Representatives. Capitol Building. Washington. DC Hon. JOHN A. BOENER. House of Representives. Capitol Building. Washington. DC.