Date: 2004-10-06
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Again. I want to rise in support of this legislation. but I do want to note some concurrent problems that concern me with respect to this legislation because the goals of this legislation were to strike a balance in the operation of this water system. a balance in the development of facilities and the utilization of this water between the consumption of this water. whether it be in industry or whether it be in the agricultural industry or in our municipalities or for the environment. to make sure that there was balance to those efforts. I think to the extent it" was practicable. the gentleman from California and others have worked that balance out. I am concernedthat as we get ready to pass this legislation and send it to the President. we now see other activities that are taking place along at the same time. and. that is. we. see the emergence now of the operations criteria and plan which is the new document that sets the stage for Californias most farreaching. wcording to the Sacramento Bee. the most farreaching plumbing shifts in a decade. Under the plan. water contractors would increase the pumping from the very same delta that this legislation is designed to help protect and preserve both for its local economies. for its agricultural industries and for its environmental assets. would increase. the pumping from the delta by some 27 percent to Southern California. The suggestion is that that has to be done. Part of it is because there are contracts that have to be met. We know that many of these contracts are up currently for renewal in a number of the water districts south of the delta. The Bureau of Reclamation and the Federal Government has within its authority to modify those contracts. All of the evidence suggests that they are not prepared to do that. that they are going tomaximize the water deliveries under those contracts even though those contracts envisioned a water delivery at a time that California had 20 million fewer people than it does today and when the demands on water north of the delta are different today than they were then. They are not going to modify those contracts. and they are going to try. I think. contrary to the law. they are going to try to extend those contracts for another 40 years. The fact of the matter is that that is contrary to the protection of this SacramentoSan Joaquin Delta. and as outlined in this new operations criteria. means. less water flowing into San Francisco Bay. After a decadeslong struggle to protect San Francisco Bay. you can start to see the reignition of a whole series of battles starting to take place because there is this rush by the State administration and the Fbderal Government to maximize the amount of water that can be sent south. The concern is that when we have tried to make sure that all of the evidence was on the table. with both of our Senators and the gentlewoman from California and other members of the California delegatioh. we asked for a continuation ofthe public hearings on these contract terms. the bureau has ignored our request. When we asked the bureau to extend. that public.comment perioduntil those important questions. were- answered. the bureau ignored our request. What worries- me is this ignoring of the public interest. of the public input into this decision now fits into what we now see. that the political operations within NOAA and the scientists who are there to develop the standards for the protections of the salmon runs in the SacramentoSan Joaquin Delta. in the American River. we now see. according agaiii to the Sacramento Bee this last weekend. that there is an overriding of the setting of those standards in terms of the adequate water flows and releases that are necessary to protect those endangered runs of salmon. We see that that is now being done for political reasons. I What worries me the most is this is the same cagt of characters that arbitrarily and capriciously in the court case. it was determined. overrode the scientists on the Klamath River and led to one of the largest killoffs of salmon in the history of the west coast. if not the largest. because they decided that they did not want to live with good science. they decided they would override it. So all of a sudden as we pass CALFED today. we see that in fact the SacramentoSan Jpaquin Delta. San Francisco Bay. the American River. maybe the runs in the Sacramento River. the fisheries runs there. may be more imperiled than at any time in history. Why is that happening? Because what we see in spite of the agreements of cooperation. of balancing that we see in the CALFED. we see there starting to be a repetition of the same old habits which is to try. and maximize the pumping from the SacramentoSan Joaquin Delta to send it southfor the purposes of fulfilling tIese contracts or other needs. My concern -is that at a time when the chairman really held up this process until such time as the delta water agencies and others could come in and make sure what the impacts were going to be on delta water quality. on delta usage. we now seea parallel process taking place that has all of the earmarks of another devastating blow to delta water quality. to the usages in the delta. to the protection of the environment. and to the protection of the delta economy. I raise these at this time because. as we celebrate the long effort and the successful effort with the passage in this House of the CALFED legislation. we see that the forces who continue to have a design on the SacramentoSan Joaquin Delta. on the impacts on San Francisco Bay by increasing the diversions from this very complicated and fragile environment. we see that they never rest. And they are back now. apparently with the cooperation of the Schwarzenegger administration in Sacramento. with the cooperation of the Bush administration.- in fact. with not only the cooperation of the Bush administration but the Bush administra--tions political appointees now coming. in and overriding the scientists who have done the studies designed to protect the delta and protect its fisheries. So I guess the bottom line and the end of this story is. there is an awful lot of work that remains to be done. There is an awful lot of concern that we have over the longterm protection of the delta. and I would hope that the gentleman from California would look at these articles that are in the "Sacramento Bee" because they raise the most serious concerns about our economy and about our environment. Mr. Speaker. I include for the RECORD the articles that I alluded to. [From sacbee.com. Oct. 2. 2004]