News From…
Congressman Dennis Cardoza
18th Congressional District of California
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 14, 2007 |
CONTACT: Jamie McInerney (202) 225-6131 |
| MERCED, CA – Today Congressmen Dennis Cardoza (CA-18) and Jim Costa (CA-20) sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation asking the agency to take steps aimed at mitigating the loss of water supply to consumers. The letter follows a recent decision by District Court Judge Oliver Wanger to severely restrict pumping water from the San Joaquin River Delta because of declining Smelt populations.
“Water from the Delta is critical to the economy here in the Valley, and to the livelihoods of residents all across California. The recent order to shutdown the Delta pumps presents serious challenges to our communities,” said Cardoza. “We need immediate action to mitigate the effects of the cutoff, and we need to ensure adequate water supplies in the future.”
Congressman Costa commented, “The delta smelt decision will have significant impact affecting the majority of Californian’s water supply. It’s time the public policy makers stop the political rhetoric; we are putting off making difficult decisions, and California’s water future is at stake. Now more than ever, we need to come together to plan for California’s long-term water needs.”
A copy of the full letter is below.
September 14, 2007
John Davis, Acting Regional Director
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
2800 Cottage Way
Sacramento, CA 95825-1898
Dear Mr. Davis:
As you are aware, Federal District Court Judge Oliver Wanger’s recent decision which restricts pumping at the State and Federal facilities in the Delta will have a devastating impact upon both the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project supplies. These projects supply water to San Joaquin Valley farmers, as well as Southern California and Bay Area urban water districts, which serve over 25 million California residents and businesses. The impact of this decision will reverberate throughout the State, resulting in cuts to water allocations by as much as 35%. This is one of the single largest court-ordered reductions in California history.
These cuts are in addition to water supply reductions already imposed as a result of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992, the Clean Water Act and other regulatory measures. Federal agricultural service contractors in particular will face an untenable situation--- a 25-30% allocation if we experience normal conditions this winter, and just a 10% allocation if we experience another dry winter. The ripple effect of fallowing hundreds of thousands of acres will be ruinous to the Valley and State economies, and in particular those disadvantaged communities up and down the Valley that rely on agriculture for their economic base. We are writing to request the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation exercise discretion in a number of areas in order to provide a minimal level of relief to this very serious situation.
First, we request that the Bureau issue immediate guidelines to allow for the rescheduling of unused 2007 water for South of Delta agricultural service contractors for the 2008 water year. In light of the fact that the San Luis Reservoir is unlikely to fill this winter, storage capacity will be available for unused 2007 water. Farmers will begin to feel the impact of the court’s decision in the coming weeks, when they begin meeting with their bankers to obtain financing for next year’s farming operations. The court’s decision, coupled with speculation of a worst case scenario 10% allocation is likely to cause a financial crisis, unless farmers are able to demonstrate that they will have water for their crops, including any unused water from the 2007 water year. It is essential that these guidelines be flexible and not unnecessarily restrictive in the rescheduling of any unused 2007 water.
Furthermore, the Bureau needs to issue the guidelines immediately so that water users can demonstrate that their unused water is an asset and so they can plan accordingly.
Second, although Judge Wanger’s action focuses entirely on the state and federal pumps, the court did acknowledge that there are other likely causes of the decline in smelt populations. Credible scientists have attributed the pumps for 5-15% of the cause in the decline, pointing to other factors--- including loss of food supplies, the introduction of foreign plant and fish species, unscreened diversions in the Delta, and poor water quality--- that represent a greater effect on decline in smelt numbers. We call upon the Bureau to immediately analyze these other factors and to develop an action plan for addressing these other factors on a parallel track with the development of the Biological Assessment and Biological Opinion. The pumps and their impact upon the delta smelt cannot be looked at in a vacuum--- this approach does not serve the delta smelt, the farmers and municipalities that rely upon the Delta for their water supply nor the taxpayers and the public at large.
Third, as the Bureau moves forward in developing recommendations to the court regarding implementation of the decision and in working with the other state and federal agencies to develop the Biological Assessment and Biological Opinion, it is imperative that the Bureau exercise its discretion to provide for the greatest degree of flexibility in order to mitigate to some degree the reduction in water supply. Furthermore, we request that the Bureau dedicate top staff to work with the affected parties on strategies, including supplemental water supplies and transfers, designed to reduce some of the impacts of reduced water allocations.
Thank you for your consideration of our requests. We look forward to your timely response.
Sincerely,
Congressman Dennis Cardoza
Congressman Jim Costa
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